Frozen Love
by H2O Pokemon FAN
Summary: Do you know, what it feels like, when no one believes in you? Valentine has always been alone. Now, after 600 years, she's chosen to be a Guardian. 300 years after the movie takes place. Valentine(My OC)XJack Frost
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**Chapter 1 Prologue**

**This takes place 300 years after the movie.**

**Chapter Summary: Valentine tells about her past and reveals what she does each day…**

**(Valentine's POV)**

Darkness, and being so, so cold. That's the first thing I remember. I lay half-buried in the snow. Barren trees surrounded me. I was scared. So, so, very scared.

But then I saw the moon. It was so big, and bright; it seemed to chase away the darkness. When it did, it filled me with warmth, and, I wasn't scared anymore.

It took me a moment to realize it, but I was floating a foot off the ground. I fell lightly back down and landed on my feet. I felt my foot touch something in the snow. I uncovered it to reveal a gold heart-shaped locket with a pink, heart-shaped ruby in the middle. I picked it up, and it pulsed pink. I dropped it in surprise, staring at it. After a moment, I carefully picked it up again and held it in both hands. I tried to pry it open, but it was frozen shut. I then put the locket around my neck, and I felt a shimmer pass through me.

I looked down to see what I was wearing. I wore a dark red cloak over a thin red cotton shirt with short sleeves. My pants were teal, and made of thin cotton. I also wore thick black boots. My hair was crimson and hung in a ponytail. And I couldn't see it, but I also had violet eyes and freckles dotted my nose and my cheeks.

I flew above the treetops to see where I was. In the distance, I saw a small town. I decided to fly over and find out where exactly I was.

As I got close to the town, I landed in the trees just outside the town, and I walked in.

"Hello!" I greeted a little boy who raced pass.

"Evening, sir!" I said to a man who was sitting by the fire at the center of town. He ignored me. "Sir? Sir?" Suddenly, a couple walked straight through me. "Wha-?!" I looked around in frightened confusion. I rose above the town and flew as fast as I could back to the woods. I landed by a cave with an overlook. I looked up at the moon.

"Who am I?" I asked aloud. "Why can people walk through me as if I don't exist? Why doesn't anyone hear me when I speak?"

Startlingly, the moon answered. He said that my name is Valentine. He said no one could see or hear me because they didn't believe in me. He said that was also why people can walk through me. I asked why I was here, and what I was meant to do. The moon didn't reply.

**[600 Years Later…]**

I skated across the ice on top of the building, throwing myself into the air.

"Woo-hoo!" I yelled as the wind pulled me out.

Over the years, I'd changed my look. Now, instead of a dark red cloak, I wore a thin pink jacket. I left it unzipped to reveal a dark red t-shirt dotted with little hearts. Instead of thin cotton pants, I now wore a pair of blue jeans. And instead of thick black boots, I wore pink zipper boots. I kept my hair in a ponytail, 'cause I liked it.

I flew looking for a café with outside tables to see if I could find a couple. See, as I discovered my powers, I learned I could spark love between two people. I could even tell if two people were destined for each other. Then, I would try and bring them together.

I soon spotted a favorite little place of mine, A Cup of Love. It had opened a little over 70 years ago. The owner was a sweet woman named Annabelle. For some reason, she could see me, while others didn't. We met when I was checking the café out for the first time. We became friends quickly.

About twelve years ago, Annabelle's daughter Janet took over the café. I surprised her on her first day when I came floating in, looking for Annabelle. After that, she and I became friends too. She taught her daughter to believe in the Guardians. She even brings her daughter Katie to work once in a while. Katie doesn't believe in me, unfortunately, and therefore can't see me. However, she did believe in others like me.

I landed in front of the café lightly. Couples braving the cold weather sat outside together, talking and sipping coffee or hot chocolate. I looked around and saw two kids sitting at a table, sipping hot chocolate. I walked over to them. They both looked about twelve or thirteen. I could sense they liked each other. I could tell they were perfect for each other too.

I made a snowball and lightly blew on it. It pulsed pink. I smiled. I made the snowball fall over the two in snowflakes, each flake of snow carrying my special dust.

You could practically see the sparks flying. The two smiled at each other. When they left, the boy held the girl's hand. I smiled as I watched them.

"Val!" I turned and smiled as I saw Janet waving. I waved back. I saw little ten-year-old Katie peeking out from behind Janet's leg. I floated over. "I got your usual on the kitchen counter."

I smiled. "Thanks, Janet. You're the best."

"Anytime." I smirked and floated into the café, dusting couples who needed it as I headed to the back. Sitting on the kitchen counter as Janet said was my usual order: a chocolate chip cookie and a mug of hot chocolate. I ate them quickly then left the back to go find more couples.

At the end of the day, I flew home. My home was that cave out in the woods, but I made a quick stop over the park and smiled. Some kids were having a snowball fight. A teenager, about seventeen or so, was playing with them. He had white hair, wore a blue hoodie and khaki pants, and carried a wooden staff with a crook at the end.

I had to hurry back home before it got dark, so I flew off, smiling.

**Soooo… did you like it? Just a little something I'd put together.**

**R&R. More to come soon…**


	2. Chapter 2: I'm Chosen

**Chapter 2 I'm Chosen**

**Hey, so yeah. Now we know a little bit about Valentine's past. And here we have Chapter 2!**

**Chapter Summary: The Guardians try to recruit Valentine as Valentine discovers she's not alone when it comes to being invisible.**

**(Jack's POV)**

I looked up to the skies to see something similar to the Northern Lights.

I flew off. The kids wouldn't notice. After all, none of them believed in me anymore as far as I knew. I flew north, heading to North's workshop.

When I arrived, North and Bunny were in an argument, while Tooth was talking to herself and her fairies about something to do with teeth.

I flew in. "Hey guys, what'd I miss?" Sandy pointed to the opening from which I'd flown in from. I turned and looked.

"Hey, um, guys?" I said. "Man in Moon is here."

Everyone stopped and looked. "Man in Moon! Long time, old friend!" North said. "Tell us, what is big news?"

A black shadow appeared on the floor. It took the form that looked similar to Pitch.

Bunny looked at North. "It is Pitch."

North patted his belly.

"Wait," I said. "I'm lost."

Tooth looked at me. "North saw Pitch."

"What? Pitch? He's been gone for 300 years!"

"He's returned," said North. "I suspect he's up to something." He looked up at the moon. "What must we do?"

The moon shone a beam of moonlight a patch on the floor. It opened up and a crystal rose up.

"He's chosen a new Guardian," North breathed.

"Another one?" Bunny asked. "Why?"

"Must be big deal."

"I wonder who?" Tooth cried. Sandy made a picture of a four-leafed clover.

"Please not the groundhog. Please not the groundhog," Bunny mumbled. A form began taking shape above the crystal.

The figure was female, with long hair in a ponytail. She wore a thin jacket, which was unzipped to reveal a t-shirt dotted with little hearts. She also wore a pair of blue jeans and boots that could be zipped up. Around her neck was a heart-shaped locket, with a heart-shaped gem in the middle.

"Hm. Valentine," North said, surprised.

"Uh, I take that back. The groundhog is fine," said Bunny.

"Well, as long as she helps to protect the children," Tooth said.

"Valentine? She doesn't have anything in common with children! All she does is spread her magic dust, and, and, ruin lives! Alright, she's an irresponsible, selfish-"

"Guardian," finished North, his arms crossed as he gazed at Valentine.

"Besides," said Tooth. "You said something similar about Jack, and look how good he turned out!"

"What?" I asked. I'd been lost in the girl's face. I couldn't help but feel like I knew her from somewhere. I wasn't sure where though.

**(Valentine's POV)**

It was dark out now. As I flew over downtown, something caught my eye. It was a dark blur, much faster than my eyes could register. I landed near where I'd seen the blur, looking around nervously. Behind me, I felt a rush of wind. I spun around, but nothing was there. Behind me again, farther away, I saw the blur out of the corner of my eye. I raced after it. I soon came to a three-way dead end. I looked around me, my eyes dark, my hands near my sides as if to grab something.

"Hello, mate," I spun around, and saw a large shadow vaguely the form of a large rabbit. "Been a long time. It was '98, I believe." Easter Bunny walked out of the shadows. "Easter Sunday, wasn't it?"

"You're not still mad about that, are you?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, glaring as he flipped his boomerang in his hand. "But this is about somethin' else. Fellas."

A large hand grabbed me from behind. "Hey!" I yelled as I was thrown into a red sack. I heard the breaking of glass then I screamed as I felt myself being thrown.

When I stopped spinning, I felt myself bouncing onto a floor.

"She's here," a voice said quietly.

Another voice said, "Sorry I'm late, I-" The voice stopped midsentence. "Guys… Why?"

"Quiet," the first voice told him. Sighing frustratingly, I pushed the sack open with my hand a bit, looking around. When I looked in front of me, my mouth dropped.

Santa grinned. "Hey, there she is." He matched the first voice. I pushed the sack off me more to look around me better. Next to Santa stood Sandman. On his other side, Tooth Fairy fluttered. Easter Bunny leaned against a pillar near Sandman. And floating behind Sandman, was a boy with white hair, his face covered by his hand. "Valentine!" The moved his hand to look at me. Was he cute.

"Santa, wow… you've gotta be kidding me." Two large hands picked me up. "Hey, hey, put me down!" I was gently put me down on the floor so I was standing.

"I assume the Yetis treated you well?" Santa asked, beaming.

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms, glaring. "Oh yeah, sure. I _love_ being shoved into a sack and thrown into a magic portal!"

"Oh, good. That was my idea," said Easter Bunny. I rolled my eyes at him and glared.

"The big Four," I said, beginning to pace, "all together. Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Sandman, and the Easter Bunny."

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot," I said. "Jack Frost."

"So, anyways, anyone want to tell me why I'm even here?" I turned around in my pacing. "I must have down something _really_ bad to get all of you together. Wait," I looked at Santa. "Am I on the naughty list?"

I turned away, smiling, as Santa replied. "You hold small record. But, no matter. We overlook. We're wiping clean the slate."

I turned to look at him. "How come?"

"How come? I tell you how come! Because now, you are Guardian!" _Say what?_ I thought.

Suddenly, all this music started up. I stared around me, and stamped my foot hard.

"HEY!" I shouted loudly over the music, which dimmed and stopped. "What makes you think I want to be a guardian?" I saw Jack Frost cringe.

"Of course you do," Santa said. "Music!"

"No, no music," I shouted. The elf threw down his trumpet and stomped off.

"You guys don't want me," I said. "All of you are hard work, and deadlines. I'm just hearts, kisses, and smiles. I'm not a Guardian."

"Val, I don't think you fully understand what it is we do," Jack Frost said. "See that globe? Each of those lights represents a child. And we protect them."

"Oh, no," I said. "That is not me. No offense."

"How, how, how was that not offensive?" Bunny asked. "I mean, what does this clown girl know about bringing joy to kids? And none of them believe in her, either!"

Tooth gasped. "Bunny! Enough."

"No, no," I said, holding up a hand. "He's right. The kangaroo is right."

"The what, now?" Bunny growled, getting in my face. "Listen, here. I'm a bunny, kid." I noticed the white-haired boy stifling a laugh behind him.

"Come with me," Santa/North said. He took me to his office. "Now, we get down to text." The door slammed shut and locked. "Who are you, Valentine? What is your center?"

"Wha, my, my center?" I asked.

"Val," said North. "It's our job to protect the children of the world. For as long as they believe in us, we will guard them with our lives. But, now we face a threat greater than ever before." He looked at me closely. "We need your help. And we can't do it without you."

"Why me?" I asked.

"If Man in Moon chose you to be Guardian, that must mean you have something very special inside of you."

I shook my head. "I'm not special. Not in the slightest."

"You must be. I put wonder into the world. It is my center. So what is yours?"

I looked down. "I-I don't know…"

**How was that? You review to let me know, okay? Thanks. I'll have more chapters coming up soon.**


	3. Chapter 3: The First Attack

**Chapter 3 The First Attack**

**I was so, so, so happy and surprised when I logged on today and check on this story. Two reviews already! That's so awesome! I have good feelings for this story.**

**Chapter Summary: Pitch makes the first attack on the Guardians, and they learn a bit more about what they're up against...**

**(Valentine s POV)**

A rush of wind caught our attention as it flew by the window. It was Jack.

Tooth flew over to us. "Jack took off. He didn't look so good..."

"What's happening?" North asked.

Tooth shrugged. "He seemed upset and kept wiping his forehead, like he felt hot."

"Something's up," Bunny said.

North nodded. "To the sleigh!"

**(Jack s POV)**

I hated running off, but something felt wrong back home.

As I flew into town, it felt warmer than a snow day should have. I noticed my snow was melting. I froze it again, but it kept melting.

"Sorry to rain on your snow day," a voice said. I spun around and came face-to-face with a man. He had red hair and carried a yellow cane topped with an orange orb. He wore a yellow suit. He had a deep tan; his skin was almost brown.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am known as Heat Miser," he replied.

"Aren't you supposed to be down south?" I asked. He grinned.

"Normally. However, it _is_ the time of year for it to be warmer right now, so I thought I'd pay a little visit."

"It's not supposed to get this hot here until summer," I said, wiping something off my forehead, which I frighteningly discovered was sweat. I _never_ sweat. I'm the spirit of winter, for crying out loud!

"I know. But I decided it should be this hot. I can make it hot as hot as I want."

"Oh yeah? I can freeze you if I want," I said, before swinging my staff towards him, throwing a torrent of icicles towards him. With a wave of his cane, my ice became steam.

"You can't beat me," he said with a grin. He turned towards the woods, which still were covered in snow. I could hear laughter coming from in there. It was the children. He went in, melting all the snow.

I flew up to check the lake. Kids were skating on it.

"No," I said, before flying down towards it. I skated across it to try and strengthen it.

"What are you doing?" a little girl's voice asked. I turned to see a little girl standing near me. She had blonde hair and big, bright blue eyes. She looked like Jamie's little sister, sort of, but she was about ten-years-old.

"You can see me?" I asked. She nodded. "Tell the others to get off the ice. It's about to melt."

"Why?"

"Someone is coming to melt it. No one but me and maybe you can see him. He's become meaner than what he s normally like. He's the spirit of summer."

Her eyes widened and she nodded. "Hey, everyone! Let's get cookies and hot chocolate over at my mom's café!" A stomping of feet as the kids ran off the ice to get the food. I sighed, relieved.

Heat Miser appeared and the ice dissolved. I quickly flew to the side to escape falling in. I glared at him. "You are no match for me and my summer winds."

I heard sleigh bells and grinned. "Not alone, at least."

"Oh, I'm not alone either," he said, raising his hands. A slim black dragon flew out of no where. On its back sat a woman with pale skin. Her black hair was in a bun. She wore a sort of ripped black shirt that covered only her chest, black sweat pants, and thick black boots. In her hand was a long black stick.

Black sand appeared. Out of the sand came Pitch himself and about a dozen or so Night-Mares. He smiled cruelly at me. I glared at him.

Then, two boomerangs flew out from behind him and hit him in the back of the head. He scowled.

"Jack!" shouted Tooth. She flew out towards me. Bunny jumped out of the sleigh, throwing four eggs that exploded into multicolored dust. He landed next to me. Santa landed the sleigh and jumped out, his swords drawn.

Suddenly, Valentine was right next to me. She gave me a lop-sided smile, before turning back to Pitch, her smile now a scowl.

"The whole gang's here," said Pitch, as if he were greeting old friends. "We even have a few new faces." He gestured to the girl with the dragon, the old man, the Heat Miser, and Valentine. "Now, tell me, Valentine, why are you with the losing side?"

She glanced at me, before continuing to glare at Pitch. "I'm not on any side. It's just you happened to attack my hometown."

"Ah, so, a neutral side," Pitch said. "I won t bother with you then." He waved her away, beginning to pace.

"What are you doing, Pitch?" North asked.

"Me? Why, I m destroying Jack's specialty," Pitch said. "Snow days. And by bringing those down, I can weaken any child's belief in him, if there is any!" Pitch laughed coldly. I tightened my grip on my staff, before swinging it forward towards him. Heat Miser waved his hand, and the cold, hard snow I was slinging at Pitch was turned to water which fell to the ground with a splash.

I frowned angrily, continuing to glare at Pitch. Valentine stared at me worriedly. "There is belief. I know there is," I growled.

"Oh? Where? No child has believed in you in 300 years, Jack."

That stung me worse than anything else he could have said. Valentine put her hand on my shoulder. A look in her eyes said not to respond. I tightened my grip on my staff.

"It's time we leave now. I enjoyed our little chat," Pitch snarled. He waved and they all left. Valentine kept her hand firmly on my shoulder to keep me from flying after him. I continued to glare even when he was gone.

**(Valentine s POV)**

"Everyone, check your bases. Make sure everything is alright over there," Santa said. Everyone left, leaving me and Jack in the woods.

I sighed. "Jack," I said. "I want you to listen to me." He turned to face me. "You are believed in. I know some people who do believe, okay? Jack, never give up hope. Never give up on yourself. Jack, there's a restaurant in this town. The family that owns that place believes in you, and all of us. Some of them don't believe in some of us, but most of them believe in each of us."

He stared at me. "Really?"

I smiled. "Yes." I thought for a moment. "How about this. I take you there to prove it."

He nodded. I took his hand and rose into the air a bit. He rose up with me. We flew up over to the town. I scanned the area for my café. I spotted it and we flew to it. As we got closer I saw a larger crowd than what was normal. And everyone besides Janet was a kid. I saw Janet working tirelessly, rushing around trying to serve all the unexpected costumers. We landed by the door.

"Janet!" I called, waving. She looked in my direction. She gave me a nod. She grabbed another tray and made her way over, serving a table near us.

"Hi, Val, who's your friend?" she asked, sounding tired. Katie rushed over to her mom and tug her leg. "What is it, Katie?"

"That's the flying boy who told me to get everyone off the ice!" she said, pointing to Jack. Janet and I turned to look at Jack.

"Why?" Janet asked.

Jack sighed. "The ice was about to be melted. I was trying to stop him, but he melts anything I threw at him. He would have tumbled all the kids into the water." Then he paused. "Wait, you can see me?" She nodded. He stared at her.

"Thank you," Janet breathed. "You're, Jack Frost, right?" He nodded slowly. "Janet Bent. I'd shake your hand, but I'm too busy."

She then turned to me. "Hey, sorry, but I have no time to give you your special. All these costumers coming in at once-"

I smiled. "It's fine. We have to go, anyways. We were just stopping for a quick visit. Bye!"

She waved as we took off.

"Where to now?" I asked Jack. He was lost in thought. "Jack? Jack?"

"Huh?" he said.

"I asked where do we go now?"

"Oh... um, I guess we go back to North's place."

I nodded and together we flew northwards.

**Okay, first meeting of all of the bad guys. R&R, please! It helps me write! I want to know who each of you think each of the villains are. There s obviously Pitch and Heat Miser, but who are the other two? Review to guess! Okay, I got to go and try to write the next chapter. Bye! Don't forget to R&R!**


	4. Chapter 4: Snowy Valentine's Day?

**Chapter 4 Snowy Valentine's Day?**

**I practically squealed when I saw another review. To those of you who review, thanks so much! You are all amazing and wonderful. And no, the old man is not Father Time.**

**Chapter Summary: Valentine discovers a new power, and the Guardians discover who Pitch will strike next…**

**(Jack's POV)**

Valentine and flew to North's place, the wind whistling past us. As we flew in through the open window part, we saw everyone back. Everyone, that is, except Bunny, who was busy with eggs, as Tooth told us.

"What I don't understand, is why he's recruited others?" North said, pacing around and talking to himself. "Pitch and his Night-Mares have always been a challenge alone."

"Maybe that's why," Tooth replied. "We've always been able to beat him because he's alone. He's never had help. That is, until now."

Sandy nodded in agreement, making a question mark above his head. I frowned. "You're right, Sandy. Why now?"

"Maybe," said Valentine, "maybe he tried to get others before, but no one would work with him."

I frowned, remembering how he'd tried to get me to work with him all those years ago. "Maybe…"

**(Valentine's POV)**

I looked down and rocked on my heels as the others continued talking. I glanced at Jack. I couldn't help it, but something in me stirred. I don't know what. I knew it wasn't my heart. That had remained still for as long as I knew. Even as the spirit of love, I had never felt love myself. I wondered if, if it was my memory. But I'd not seen him before that snowball fight yesterday. So, what?

I saw Jack look at me. When he noticed I was looking at him, he looked away, his cheeks slightly pink.

**(Jack's POV)**

I blushed as I turned away from Valentine. I hadn't noticed it before, but she had the prettiest violet eyes I'd ever seen. Well, the only violet eyes I'd ever seen. But still.

I got that feeling again; like I knew her from somewhere. Her face was almost familiar, but it was still fuzzy and faded, like an old photograph.

"So, the question now is," North said, knocking me out of my thoughts. "Where will Pitch strike next?"

"Who knows? It could be any of us," Tooth replied sadly. Sandy nodded sadly.

As the others began talking again, I noticed Valentine as she stood quietly, looking at her locket, which sat it gently in her hands. Suddenly, it pulsed pink, seeming to surprise her. Then she looked closer at it.

**(Valentine's POV)**

I gazed into my locket's gem. It seemed to have turned black. Then, words in fancy script appeared.

"'2/14 is next'," I read quietly. I was confused at first. Then I realized it was a warning. Pitch must've thought I wasn't really neutral or something.

"What's 2/14?" asked Jack, who I realized was looking over my shoulder.

"My special day," I said quietly, "Valentine's Day."

I could see the gears turning in his head until everything clicked in his mind. "Oh." I nodded sadly. "When is it?"

"Four days from now."

"The closest holiday besides Easter. What do you do on that day, anyway?"

I thought for a moment. "I, I stay at home and visit everywhere in town where love seems to spark up. It's not a lot, and it's nothing major, like Easter. I don't know why Pitch would think it's a holiday that could ruin any belief in any of us. I, also count on cold weather to bring people closer." I looked at the locket. More words were appearing. "'Get ready, J and V.' J? V?"

"Maybe, Pitch is attacking us both," Jack said. "Heat would melt the cold weather, ruining any close coziness you'd hope for, and ruining a snow day. And then, maybe he'd have something else happen to mess with you even further."

I noticed the others had gotten quiet, and were looking at us.

North rubbed his beard. "That is actually possible…"

**How was this? Sorry if it was short! Next chapter will be longer! (Hopefully…) Anyway, R&R, please! It helps me to write. Bye!**


	5. Chapter 5: Was This a Date?

**Chapter 5 Was This a Date?**

**Another review! I was really happy about getting that! BTW, if anyone wants to make fan art for this, you are welcome to do so, as long as you PM me the link to it if you put it online. Oh, and let's cover one thing: Jack and Val aren't related by blood in any way whatsoever.**

**Chapter Summary: Valentine shows how she runs Valentine's Day to Jack. Valentine is also introduced to a villain far worse than Pitch…**

**(Valentine's POV) [3 days later… Valentine's Eve]**

I stood outside A Cup of Love with Jack. He was probably the only Guardian who could come to see what it is I actually do, as the others are all strongly believed in and could be seen by anyone. I sighed, trying to think why I agreed to do all this.

"First, I come here," I said, "and I check around for any need of sparks."

"Wait, what do you mean by, 'sparks'?" Jack asked.

As we walked by two kids, the same one's from the day I was chosen, I absentmindedly waved my hand, sending a small spark of dust fluttering over them. "That's sparks. When sparks fly, love is being helped along." I smiled as the two began a conversation about likes and dislikes. "But if there's no need for sparks, or if people aren't outside yet, I go inside to check for sparks again. If there's still no need, I might get something to eat from inside."

I walked through the door, welcomed by warmth and good smells. I noticed Jack had remained outside. "What's wrong?"

"It's too warm for me in there. I can't go in."

"Oh, sorry." I went back out to him. "Maybe, we should just check around town…"

He nodded. "Sure," he said a little sadly.

We looked around the rest of town, checking other cafés, watching kids playing in the snow, and sometimes, I would spread a little of my dust. It was nice. We chatted the whole time about random things.

"C'mon," said Jack, after we had checked everywhere in town. "I want to show you something." He took to the skies, holding my hand, and we flew towards the forest. We landed in a clearing that had a lake. A few kids were skating there, even some boys helping girls they liked skate. It was really pretty. I smiled at Jack, who I quickly noticed had a sad look on his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's nothing. This place always makes me sad." He seemed to look off in the distance. "This was the place I died."

I covered my mouth in shock and confusion. "How?"

"My sister and I had been skating here. She'd gotten caught on some thin ice. I managed to get her off and out of danger, but I put myself too close to the thinner parts of the ice in doing so. The ice cracked under my weight, and gave way. I fell in and drowned." He continued to stare into the distance, lost in his memories. "After that, I'm not sure how long after, the moon saved me. He made me Jack Frost, spirit of winter."

I stared at him. Then, I reached over to him, and put my hand on his shoulder lightly. He looked at me, and I nodded understandingly. I looked down, and then pulled him into a hug.

**(Jack's POV)**

I stared at Valentine as she hugged me tightly. "I'm sorry," she whispered. She sounded really sincere about it, like she knew how it felt to die.

Slowly, I wrapped my arms around her and smiled a little bit. "It-it's okay."

I don't know how long we stood like that, but when we pulled away, she smiled at me, and I returned it. We sat under a tree together, holding hands, looking up at the sky and just talking.

"You know," she said. "Tomorrow's my birthday."

"It is?"

"Mm-hmm," she mumbled.

"Huh…" I thought it over. Maybe I should give her a present… but what was the question. I thought it over, then smiled as an idea of what to get took seed in my head.

Valentine sighed. "It's getting late. The others will get worried soon. We should head back."

I sighed. "Okay." Then, we got up and flew back to North's place.

**(Valentine's POV) [The Next Day...]**

Jack and I flew over town, landing every so often to spread my dust.

Around about noon, we were sitting under a tree by Jack's lake, watching kids as they skated. It was peaceful. The snow sparkled in the sunlight. Jack had his arm around me; it made me feel warm and fuzzy, though his touch was cold. I turned to look at him and grinned. He grinned back at me.

"Oh!" he said, sitting up and reaching into his hoodie pocket. "I nearly forgot!" He pulled out a small, white heart made of snowflakes. "Happy Birthday, Val."

I gasped. "Thank you, Jack, it's beautiful!" I cradled the tiny snow sculpture in my hands carefully.

He smiled. "Just a little something, since it's your birthday." I returned the smile, before removing my necklace. I fitted the snow heart on next to the gold heart. I put it back around my neck.

**(Jack's POV)**

I felt really warm. Hot, actually. I felt something drip onto my forehead, and I looked up.

Icicles hanging from the tree branches were beginning to melt. _Oh no, not now!_ I thought. "Everyone needs to get off the ice!" I said, standing.

Val stood up next to me, looking worried. "They can't hear us, Jack. What do we do?"

I frowned angrily. "I'll hold off Heat Miser. You create a distraction to get everyone off the ice. Think you can do that?" She nodded and I took off, searching for Heat Miser.

**(Valentine's POV)**

"Gotta think, gotta think!" I mumbled. "How am I supposed to make a distraction?!" Then it came to me. "Ah!" I reached down to the ground and packed a snowball. I scanned the ice for a target. I aimed, before throwing it with all my might.

It hit a girl in the back of the head, knocking her off balance. "Okay," she said. "Who threw that?"

I smirked and nailed another kid with a snowball in the back. "Snowball fight!" he yelled, jumping off the ice and packing a snowball.

Soon, all the kids were safely off the ice and away from the lake to a place with more space. I sighed, relieved.

"So. You're Manny's little pawn." I spun around to see who'd spoken. It was the dragon girl. She slid a hand down its back soothingly as it purred at her touch.

"Wha?" I asked.

"Well, obviously, Manny's ignored you since the day you were born. And for some reason, he's suddenly taking a second glance at you." I didn't respond. "You don't have to do what he wants, you know. You can join Pitch. He's promised that every man, woman, and child will know and believe in us. Besides, Pitch isn't as powerful as me. Nowhere near it." I stared at her. "I am always feared, whether I'm believed in or not. I'm known by many names, my favorite being Hades' Daughter. But that's not my actual name. My real name is spoken of by mortals as what I stand for. I am Death."

**How many people saw THAT coming? And I left a cliff hanger! I had to combine what I first had as this chapter with some of the next chapter to get it to be anywhere near the length I wanted. Chapter 6 will take a while, but when it comes out, it will hopefully be about as long as this chapter. Bye! Don't forget to R&R!**


	6. Chapter 6: The Offer

**Chapter 6 The Offer**

**Okay, first, I'd like to say to theHuntress101: I know my mythology. But not everyone does! Most people who **_**aren't**_** PJO fans (like you and I are) don't know who Thanatos is, and think Hades is the god of death.**

**This chapter took so long to write, I'm sorry about that guys.**

**Chapter Summary: Valentine gets an offer that would make her greatest wish come true… but could she risk accepting it?**

**WARNING!: This page is choked with emotion.**

**You've been warned.**

**(Jack's POV)**

I found Heat in the woods near the lake, strolling along leisurely, as if he had all the time in the world.

"Hello, Jack," he said when he saw me. "Wouldn't you agree it's rather _warm_ for you to be out?"

I scowled at him, wanting to sling so much ice and snow at him he'd never feel warm. But he could melt it all with a wave of his hand before it even touched him. Instead, I slung all the ice I could muster at him faster than the eye could see. It pounded into him, throwing him back and off guard. As soon it had touched him, though, it turned to water. But maybe that could put out the fire in him.

Heat stood slowly, and glowered at me. "Well played, boy. But you'd have to do better than that to beat me," he wheezed.

"I'm just getting started." I grinned, a plan hatching in my mind. I hoped Val had gotten away from the lake as I slung more ice at Heat, which turned to water again, but it made him mad. Really mad. He sent a hot wind to blow me away, but I merely jumped out of the way, laughing at his expression. "Missed me!" I laughed at him, taunting him, trying to get him to chase after me.

**(Valentine's POV)**

I stared at the girl. "You're Death."

Her dragon growled at me. She hushed it, still rubbing it. "Yes."

"You. Death," I said, staring.

She turned to look at me with a fierce fire in her eyes. I saw horrible things. Warriors rushing into battle and slain by a sharp blade, or a gun; mourners of lost ones dressed all in black; gladiators rushing into battle, knowing they're going to die for entertainment; a child, weeping by her grandmother's bedside; people, young and old, fainting from walking long distances, hunger, and exhaustion; slave owners beating their slaves mercilessly; and a boy, about 17, falling through the ice as his younger sister watches helplessly as he drowns. "Are you testing me?"

I feared she would show me worse things if I pushed her. "No."

The fire died a little, and she turned back to her dragon. "So, will you take my offer up?" she asked.

"What offer?" I asked, still reeling in terror from the images.

She looked at me. "To join Pitch, of course. You could avoid a lot of pain if you did."

I scowled. "Why should I? If I join him, I'd be known for the wrong reasons."

She looked at me with new found interest. "Hmm, you're offered to be believed in," she mumbled, "but you turn it down. And why? Because you'd be believed in." She paused, looking me over. "You're rather odd." I scowled at her as she grinned toothily. "But interesting, nonetheless."

I felt a short, cool breeze on my face. Jack was coming back over here. But… the snow was still melting. What was Jack up to?

Death half-smiled, half-scowled, feeling the breeze on the back of her neck. "Well, seems we'll have company soon. I hope you think over the offer, Valentine." And with that, she jumped onto her dragon's back and took off and disappeared from view.

Suddenly, Jack burst from the trees.

**(Jack's POV)**

I zoomed to the lake through the trees, Heat Miser hot on my tail. And boy, was he _mad_ at me. I'd narrowly dodged every warm wind, heat, and fireball (don't ask) he'd thrown my way. I came to the lake, which had thankfully hadn't melted. I skated onto it quickly.

"Jack!" Valentine called, stopping me in my tracks.

"Val! You need to get out of here!" I shouted to her.

"FROST!" shouted Heat.

"Eep!" Val cried, jumping in fright, before flying into the woods, hiding behind a tree, but still within sight. Heat Miser barreled through the trees into the clearing. He was boiling mad, his face red with anger. He ran onto the ice, melting it as he ran, but he didn't notice. He ran right up to me and, before I could fly up out of the way, he grabbed me by the throat and lifted me into the air. Heat seared through me and I screamed in pain. I could just barely hear the ice cracking and melting. Miser was going to take me down with him if the rest of my plan worked. My vision was starting to blur, and I gasped for breath.

I wanted to comfort her, but I could barely breathe myself. Suddenly, the ice gave way, tumbling me and Heat Miser under.

**(Valentine's POV)**

"JACK!" I screamed as he and Heat Miser fell under. I rushed to the edge of the ice, careful not to get on, as the ice was very weak from Heat walking on it, and would probably send me under too.

I waited for him to come up, tears starting to form. One minute. Two minutes. Three. Four. Five. I fell to pieces, covering my tear-stained face as I collapsed by the edge of the ice, sobbing. "-hic- No… -hic- Jack, -hic- please no!" I hiccupped, still sobbing. "-hic- Jack…"

I sat there sobbing for who knew how long. I knew I should tell the others that Jack… that Jack had…

A new wave of sobs wracked my body, slurring my words, though I kept calling him, wishing that would bring him back.

His face appeared in my mind. He leaned against his staff lazily. The top of his coat was coated in crystal-like frost. His smile was bright and playful. His eyes seemed to sparkle with laughter. His hair sat messily on his head in a mop. The image made me cry even more than I already was.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I swatted it away, thinking it was Death, thinking she had come back to collect and try to persuade me again. I was grasped around the shoulders, and turned to look at the owner of the hands. I looked down, refusing to look at them. A hand lifted my chin up so I looked at them.

Jack smiled lightly, wiping away a tear from my face. "Jack!" I cried, throwing my arms around him tightly. "I thought… I thought you had… I thought you were…"

He hugged me back, stroking my hair soothingly. "Sh, Val, it's okay, sh… I'm okay, sh…" he murmured soothingly.

I hugged him, tightly, tears running down my cheeks in rivers. "Don't do anything so stupid again," I whispered. "Jack, you scared me. I thought you were _dead_."

**(Jack's POV)**

I stared at Valentine in shock. How long had I been down there fighting off Heat? How long had she been waiting for me to come up before she had broken down?

She sobbed into my chest, squeezing me around the middle. I stroked her red hair, murmuring in her ear, trying to calm her down. I held her close to me, hoping she wasn't too cold as she pressed herself against my body.

"Hey, hey," I said smiling lightly, lifting her face up so I could look at her and wiping a tear away. "Don't cry. I don't like to see you cry. I like to see your pretty smile."

She took her arms away from around my waist, wiping her eyes. She smiled at me a little. Though it was small, it was a start. I smiled back. I took her by the hand and squeezed. She squeezed back, smiling through tears.

We went to sit under a tree. We talked, and held hands. Slowly but surely, she started cheering up. Before we left, she flashed me a smile. Her smile shone bright, like a ray of light in the dark. Well, actually, it was, because when we headed back to North's workshop, it had started to get dark.

"Jack?" Val said as we flew back.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Thanks…"

"For what?"

"For helping me back there. If you had been…" She paused, taking a deep breath. "I don't know if I could've felt good again. I had felt like a little piece of me had died…" She stared into the distance. I reached over to her and took her hand, squeezing it. She smiled at me, to try and hide the sad look in her eyes.

**How was it? I wasn't kidding when I warned you about all the emotion in this chapter. I feel like I really accomplished some major parts of this story. Like here, for example, I show how fragile Val can be, and also how close she feels to Jack. *Hehe* Soon (hopefully!), her connection to Jack will be revealed! Until then though, you'll all remain in the dark! *somewhat-evil laughter***

**I have nothing left to say, so bye! Don't forget: R&R! It really helps me write!**


	7. Chapter 7: The Best First

**Chapter 7 The Best First**

**Major fight scene here. We finally learn how Val fights!**

**EDIT: Guys, I am so so so sorry. I had to take this down cause I needed to fix it. Please forgive me, I had put it up with out meaning to, and I'm really sorry about that.**

**Chapter Summary: Val shows off her fighting skills, while Death goes too far…**

**(Valentine's POV)**

As Jack and I flew up towards North's workshop, we could hear absolute chaos inside. We landed outside and tried the door. It swung open easily, to reveal elves running around in fright, and yetis running around trying to protect the toys. Black sand rose in the shapes of Night-Mares and other Night-Creatures.

Then we saw the Guardians fighting back at the center of it all, desperately holding on. But we could see they were all worn out. They were very brave if they could hold up against all this in the state they were in.

I looked to Jack. He nodded, his face grim, and we burst into the room. Jack wielded his power of ice and snow, while my pink dust formed itself into my bow. The dust dropped away to reveal a dark red bow. I pulled the string back and an arrow formed from my dust, fitting itself between my fingers.

I aimed the arrow at a Night-Tiger that was about to overtake Tooth, and I fired. It zoomed through all the chaos, hitting its mark, causing the tiger to burst into red dust. Tooth stared around in bewilderment, looking for where the arrow came from

I pulled the string back as another arrow formed between my fingers. I aimed it at a Night-Wolf that was jumping Bunny from behind and fired, hitting the mark. The wolf turned to red dust, covering Bunny in the dust. He shook it off, probably wondering what the heck had just fallen on him.

I saw three Night-Bears that were overtaking North in strength. I aimed and shot an arrow through the three Night-Bears, turning all three to red dust. He saw me holding my bow and smiled warmly, before rallying the others.

Jack was amazing too. While I'd been shooting my arrows, he'd been freezing any Night-Creature that had gotten too close to him. I released volley after volley of arrows around the room, turning every Night-Creature they hit to red dust.

We all fought fearlessly with renewed strength. Sandy fought against Pitch with his whips. North slashed fearlessly with his swords. Bunny threw his boomerangs, breaking Night-Creatures to dust. Tooth used something like karate. Jack froze Night-Creatures with his staff. And I fired my arrows at every black thing that moved, turning it to red dust.

The battle seemed to be going in our favor. Most of the Night-Creatures were no longer a threat. Pitch called back the remaining Night-Creatures. Suddenly, Death flew in on her dragon, flying right up to Pitch.

I readied my bow, glaring at her.

She held up a hand and shook a finger at me. "No, no. We wouldn't want anyone hurt now, would we?" She pulled her other hand out from behind her back to reveal-

**(Jack's POV)**

"Katie!" Val cried. Katie hung from the scruff of her collar. Her blonde hair was a mess, and she was in her pajamas. Her eyes darted around in fright and confusion.

Death laughed cruelly, and leaped onto her dragon, flying off with Katie. Pitch disappeared into black sand.

"No!" Val yelled, and tore off, flying after her. I took off after Val, having a pretty good idea where she was being led to.

**(Valentine's POV)**

I flew for miles until I arrived at a clearing in the woods. A dark hole was visible at the center of the clearing. Hesitantly, I flew down the tunnel into a shadowed world.

The dark flooded around me, bringing back memories of dark and lonely nights. I walked through the tunnels until I came to a vast, empty room. Cages hung from the ceiling. I could see something like a Night-Dragon was curled up in the corner, apparently asleep. I could hear a slight sniffling from somewhere in the room. The room made me feel drained, alone, and very afraid.

Silently, I floated up into the air, careful not to make a single sound. I began searching the cages, trying to find Katie.

As my hope of finding her began fading, I soon came to the last one. It was the highest one in the room. I scanned below me. The dragon still hadn't moved. I quietly breathed a sigh of relief. I then looked up at the cage, flying up to it. I peeked inside to see a little girl with blonde hair. She wore her pajamas, and sat with her back to the other side of the cage, sitting with her face in her knees. Katie.

The door was unlocked. I could see some reason behind that: if she did push the door open, it was the highest cage, and she would fall-

I pushed the thought away quickly. Gently, I pulled the door open and floated in, tapping Katie on the shoulder. She looked up quickly. Before she could make a sound, I held a finger to my lips, panic in my eyes. She saw it and nodded. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I jumped and held back a shriek. Slowly, I stole a look behind me.

Jack stood there, leaning on his staff, his grin apparent on his face. I sighed through my nose, before glaring at him angrily. I gathered Katie into my arms. She wrapped her small arms around my neck tightly. I could tell she was scared by how tense her arms felt.

I looked down, checking on the dragon. Katie hid her face in my hair so she wouldn't look down. It had remained in the same spot, same position. That made me think it really was asleep.

I flew out of the cage, holding Katie tightly. I looked around, making sure the Night-Dragon was not awake. I stole a look at Jack, who floated above me, that stupid grin still on his face. I flew to the place I'd come in from, flying up as fast as I could away from that place.

}~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{

As we flew to Katie's house, she told me her mom wasn't home at all.

"What?" I asked, looking at her.

She looked down. "I have a sitter..."

I gritted my teeth. "Who?"

"Caroline..."

"Your cousin?" I asked. Sure, why not? After all, family is supposed to _watch out for each other_. She nodded. "C'mon, your cousin and I need to have a little talk..."

We flew to her house. We saw a light shining through the living room window. Inside, we could see a girl with almost-white-blonde hair. She sat forward in a recliner, her face in her hands. She looked like she was crying hard. Katie stared at her, before pushing open the window slowly and lowering herself inside. Jack and I followed her in.

"Caroline?" Katie said uneasily. Caroline looked up quickly. Her dark hazel eyes were glassy and red from crying. Her cheeks were tear-stained. She was a wreck.

She flew at Katie, crushing her in a hug and sobbing. "Katie! Oh, Katie, where have you been?! I've been looking all over!" Katie looked up at me. "Are you okay? You're not hurt?"

"I'm fine, Caroline, really," Katie said, hugging her tightly, but her eyes trained on me.

Caroline let go of Katie long enough to look and notice me and Jack. Her eyes narrowed and she pushed Katie behind her protectively. She pointed a finger at us. "Who are you, how did you get in, and why are you here?" she asked in a single breath.

I looked to Jack, who shrugged. "Very helpful," I mumbled, before smiling brightly at Caroline. "Hello! This is Jack and I'm… Val. We… helped Katie get back here!" She glared at us, obviously not buying a word I was saying. I looked at Katie. She mouthed, "Great, great, great Grandpa Jamie's stories." I thought this over, trying to think of how that could help. I looked to Jack. He was staring at Katie as if she'd just said something wonderful and sad at the same time.

"You're descended from, Jamie Bent?" he asked, gawking. I had no idea what he was talking about. Caroline gave him the evil eye, nodding slowly. "And, and did he tell you stories about, when, when he was a kid?" Again, she slowly nodded, probably wondering where this was going. "Did he ever talk to you about, Jack Frost?"

Her eyes narrowed. "How would you know about that?"

Jack rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, staring at her and Katie, before he pointed at himself. "That's me. I'm Jack Frost."

She stared at him for the longest amount of time. Then she laughed out loud. "You? Jack Frost? Oh, yeah and I'm the Tooth Fairy!" Jack looked crestfallen. Then, he perked up.

"If you don't believe, then how can you see me?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Only those who believe in me can see me."

She stared. "I don't believe in any of this nonsense. And I definitely don't believe in Jack Frost."

"Liar," Katie said. "You do believe. You believe in them as much as the Boogeyman."

Caroline shuddered at his name and sighed. "Okay, fine. I can't deny it after that."

I stared. "You believe in Pitch? Pitch Black?" She nodded grimly. Jack and I exchanged glances.

Caroline shuddered. "I get nightmares about him… I've had them since I was little…"

Katie patted her on the leg. "Be glad you've never seen him in real life…"

Caroline looked down at her. "What?"

"I've seen him…" Caroline got down on one knee to get eye level with her.

"When?" she asked, looking her in the eye. Katie mumbled something. Caroline closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "How?" Her voice cracked slightly. Katie mumbled some more, and Caroline stared at her, before hugging her tightly. Her eyes brimmed with tears. "I am so, so sorry. I-I didn't know…" She looked up at us. "Thank you. Thank you so, so much."

I nodded. We said goodbye and left the two, who were still hugging, and climbed out the window. As we went out, I frowned at Jack, still having not forgotten what had happened, and took to the skies. He followed behind me. When we reached the lake, Jack's lake, I landed under a tree, turned around, and faced Jack, glaring at him. "Okay, what the HECK?"

He raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"Sneaking up on me like that, making me think I'd been caught."

He gave me an innocent look, but I could see the glint in his eyes. "I'd come in case you needed help back there, but you had it taken care of." I stopped, staring at him. He came and stood closer to me, his face mere inches from mine. "You need to lighten up some." His eyes darted up at the tree branches. I followed them to see what looked like leftover mistletoe from Christmas hanging right above-

Jack leaned closer and pressed his lips against mine. I was too in shock to realize what was going on until a few seconds later. I closed my eyes, wrapping my arms around his neck. He pulled me closer to him.

It was the best first kiss ever.

**AWWWWWWW! *fan-girlish squeal* I left that out in the summary for a reason. (^.^) Did you like/not like it? Let me know!**

**R&R please! Bye!**


	8. Chapter 8: Who's Jamie?

**Chapter 8**

**So excited to see that this story is (somewhat) popular. And OH MY GOSH THE KISS! *squeal* I'm still fan-girling over it.**

**Sorry about this, but this is a very short filler chapter. I'm completely dry. I hope to post again when I have some idea where to go… until then, root for me!**

**Chapter Summary: Jack explains to Valentine who Jamie was…**

**(Valentine's POV)**

Jack and I flew back to the Pole. Finally, I got the courage to ask him something. "Hey, Jack? Who is Jamie?"

He sighed, seemingly lost in memories. "Jamie was one of my best friends. He was the first person to see and believe in me. We had so much fun every time I visited him…" He paused. "He died a couple of years ago. Old age." He trailed off, lost in memories. I listened in silence. Jack sighed. "It was his time though. I thought, I thought that no one else really believed in me after he died…"

I looked at him sympathetically. "I'm sorry." I reached over and took his hand, squeezing it.

He attempted a sad smile. "But, now, I know it's not true. He told his kids, grandkids, and great grandkids about me, and the Guardians, filling them with belief in us…" He trailed off, lost in thought.

…**Again, I'm so sorry about this! :( I've just…gone dry on ideas…and it will soon get really busy for me… Forgive me, people…**

**R&R please!**


	9. Chapter 9: A Trip Down Memory Lane

**Chapter 9 A Trip Down Memory Lane**

**Hello! As you may have guessed, I've been inspired again!**

**Chapter Summary: Val's past and her connection to Jack are finally revealed!**

**(Jack's POV)**

"What was it like?" I asked. She stumbled in the air a bit, as if caught off guard.

"What?" she asked shakily.

"Before you became Valentine, I mean."

She shook her head. "There was no before…"

"Sure there was. We were all someone before we became who we are now." I looked at her, concerned.

"I-I had always just assumed… you mean to tell me I used to have a home, and family and friends?" she asked, her eyes wide in shock.

"You really don't remember?" Her shoulders drooped as she shook her head slowly, looking down in shock. I put a hand on her shoulder, smiling as she looked up at me. "Then maybe it's time you took a trip down memory lane."

"How?" she asked, looking at me inquisitively.

I cracked a smile. "Don't worry; just trust me," I replied. She returned the smile. She seemed nervous, though I could see a bright gleam of curiosity in her eyes.

When we reached North's workshop, we got some yelling from North not to "run off like that again", which I ignored. When it finally ended, I grabbed Tooth and pulled her to the side, explaining to her that we needed Val's teeth. She agreed, and sent some of her fairies to get them.

}~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{

**(Valentine's POV)**

When Tooth's fairies returned, they carried a colorful golden cylinder. It had a well-depicted picture on the front. The picture depicted a young girl with long, wavy black hair; a face dotted with a few freckles; big, chocolate brown eyes; and a bright smile. I looked at it uncertainly.

"Are you sure this is mine?" I asked. The fairies nodded and dropped it into my hands, going back to hover around Tooth.

I felt Jack's hand on my shoulder. I turned to see him smiling at me reassuringly. I turned back to the cylinder and, taking a deep breath, lightly touched the top.

Immediately, images flew across my eyes. Each image was connected to sound, like watching a movie.

First I saw myself sitting alone. I looked exactly like the picture on the cylinder. I sat alone on the edge of a wood bench. I could see kids playing nearby, while I sat by myself.

A boy walked up to me. He looked around my old self was, about five or six. He had messy brown hair, brown eyes, and wore brown pants, a white shirt, a brown vest, and was barefoot, despite the snow. He smiled at me as we exchanged hellos.

Next, I saw myself older, around seven. I wore a brown shawl of sorts, a blue-ish shirt, and dark brown pants, as well as black boots. I rode a mustang bareback, jumping fallen logs, the wind whipping my hair back. "Woo-hoo!" I yelled as the horse jumped a log.

I was now eight, but I still looked seven. It was about summertime. I was curled up with a school book. The boy (whose name I'd concluded to be Jack) appeared and snatched the book from me, flipping through it. He looked at me and sneered/grinned. "Nasty nerd!" he cried, laughing playfully.

I scowled at him. "Damned trickster," I muttered, before snatching my book back.

In the next series of images, I was with the boy again. We both looked around eleven and twelve. We sat in front of a sunset above an iced-over lake. Snow covered the ground. He leaned over and quickly kissed my cheek. "Happy Birthday, Juliet," he said. I blushed.

Now, I was shown at age fourteen. I wore a long green dress with an apron and a dark brown bonnet. I walked among trees. The weather was springtime-ish. "Jack?" I called. "Jack, where are-GAH!" I cried as the boy fell so he hung upside-down in front of me, laughing. "Jack!" I scolded, but I was laughing too. A little while later after that, we were dancing at the spring festival. We were arm in arm, twirling while smiling at each other.

The images sped up.

I was about sixteen-years-old. They showed me watching Jack and a little girl, about six or so, leave his house, telling his mother they'd be careful.

Next I was rushing towards the woods. I could hear shouts for help inside. I came to the lake and saw the little girl crying alone, looking at a hole in the ice as she yelled for help. "Pippa!" I cried. "What-" I stopped, it hitting me: Jack had fallen in and hadn't come up. I ran up to her and embraced her, hugging her tightly and walking her off the ice.

Next, I was running from Jack's house. It was night. I was crying. I ran to my house and into my room and cried on my bed.

When the images slowed down, I was alone, walking along a forest path, weeping. I wore a black mourner's dress, a black shawl, black stockings, and black boots. "Oh, Jack," I whispered. "Why? Why'd you have to die? It was only four months ago you proposed. And then, a month later, you fell down to the depths of the ice…" I tripped, and fell to the snowy ground. Instead of getting up, I turned over to look up at the sky. The moon shone above me, glistening in the sky above. Snowflakes fell and touched my tear-stained cheeks. "I only ask one thing… to be with Jackson Overland Frost again…" I closed my eyes, as if I was very, very tired. The snowfall turned into a snowstorm, and I was half-buried in snow.

As the snow whirled around me, my hair changed to crimson. My clothes changed into a dark red cloak over a thin red cotton shirt with short sleeves and teal cotton pants. I kept my boots. A gold, heart-shaped locket fell from the sky and landed in the snow near me.

My eyes flew open, revealing my violet eyes, and I was thrown from the memories.

Everyone was looking at me expectantly. I stared around at them. My eyes rested on Jack, and widened. I shook my head and stumbled back a bit.

"You okay?" Jack asked me, concern in his voice and on his face.

I rubbed the back of my neck, shaking my head, looking down, away from him. I could barely understand it all. "I-I'm sorry," I mumbled, moving to leave. "I-I need to be alone for, for a moment…" The others nodded, looking at me sadly, before leaving, but Jack walked over to me. He lifted my chin to look at my face and saw I was crying.

"Hey, hey," he said, wiping a tear from my face. "What's wrong?"

I pushed him away quickly. "NO!" I yelled at him. He stepped back a bit at my outburst. "You don't get it! You don't understand anything!" I buried my face in my hands and sobbed. "Leave me alone, Jack!" I slowly stepped away from him, and left the room. I walked outside and took to the skies, tears streaming from my eyes.

I did NOT want this. I was better off in the dark. Now… I don't know what to think. I cannot let myself fall for him, though. Even with him kissing me, I thought I could hold out. Because if he likes me, then I might fall for him and then I'd… no. I can't think about that.

And now… now I'm stuck and don't know what I should do. He may have been someone special to me in my past, but I can't let that control me _or more importantly_, my feelings.

**How's that for an ominous ending?**

**R&R please, it helps the author(AKA, Me) to write.**


	10. Chapter 10: An Offer You Can't Refuse

**Chapter 10 An Offer You Can't Refuse**

**I'M BACK! Hehe. Did you guys miss me? Thanks again to Keyboardwizzard who helped with chapter 9, you know who you are and you are just plain AWESOME. Especially for helping with this chapter too!**

**Chapter Summary: Pitch confronts Val on "the offer" again, and Val becomes **_**very**_** tempted to agree…**

**(Valentine's POV)**

I off to the skies, heading to one place where it wouldn't be too weird to see me: Paris. Yes, Paris, the City of Love. As I approached from the skies, I could see the Eiffel Tower twinkling in the distance. I flew towards it and landed on the highest point, sitting down, leaning against a metal beam, and looking over the city as the tears rolled down my cheeks.

The view was breath-taking. If you've never seen Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower at night, you don't know how beautiful it can look. Hard to believe, but it looks even prettier when it has all its Valentine's Day décor up.

"Valentine," an all too familiar voice sneered. I whirled onto my feet to face Pitch, my bow ready and drawn. "Oh, put that away, I only want to talk."

I lowered my bow, but kept it ready. "What do you want?" I spat.

"What's wrong? You seem upset."

"It's nothing," I muttered.

"It must be something… maybe something frosty…?" He said it in a way that sounded like he wasn't guessing, but in a way that he knew he was right.

I gasped. "How-?"

"I have a talent for knowing everyone's greatest fears." He looked right at me. "Yours is that you'll fall in love, and therefore lose your life. You know, there are ways to prevent you from loving him."

"And how exactly would I do that?" I snarled, though it didn't sound as scary because there was a hint of fear in it.

"You could run away. There's also that you could stage your death and move closer to the equator, where he can't touch you." He looked at me. "Or, you could join me. Come to the dark side, Valentine." He said it so repulsively, I looked away in disgust. But here's the weird part. I was _tempted_ to take up his offer.

"What would I get from that?"

"You lost your life when you became Valentine, correct?"

"What's it to you?" I growled.

"You lost your home, family, friends?" I remained silent. He held out his hand towards me. "Take my hand." I glanced at it then back at him warily. Nervously, I reached towards it.

As my fingers brushed his, the scenery suddenly changed. Trees popped up around us. Sunlight streamed through the treetops, which towered above us. Grass and wildflowers sprung up at our feet.

Directly in front of us sat a small log cabin. A family sat on the porch, talking and laughing. Younger children were running around, playing. I realized I was looking at my family, my friends. I wanted to run to them. Before I could take a step, though, Pitch stopped me. "They won't see or hear you," he told me. "We are simply looking back in time, but we aren't in this time."

"Then let me into this time!" I shouted at him.

"I have every intention to, but, unfortunately, I can't do that," he said calmly. I wanted to smack that annoyingly calm look off his face. "You see, there is something the Guardians haven't told you." I stopped in my tracks. "There is a small, 'window', if you will, in time. At equal intervals, this 'window' opens. And when it does, one person may pass though, and go to any time they want, permanently. The only way to get to it is to go through the Guardians. I know how to operate the 'window.'"

"What are you getting at?" I asked, my eyes narrow.

"What I'm trying to say is, if you help me, I'll help you. I want the Guardians out of the way, and you want to go home. If you help me take down the Guardians, I'll send you home."

"The Guardians would send me back if I want to," I replied, glaring at him. He must think I'm a fool if he thought I couldn't see through that.

"Then why haven't they?" Pitch challenged. I stopped in my tracks, his words ringing in my head as I searched for a reason why. A reason I was still here, and not there, with my family and friends. A reason the Guardians kept me here. "They've been using you like a puppet, Valentine. They gave you no say in the matter of whether or not you were a Guardian, didn't they?"

No matter how I looked at it, he seemed to be right. Grudgingly, I looked at him. "Well…" I started. I hardly knew what to say. "Maybe, maybe if no one gets hurt…"

He smiled, though it seemed rather cruel and upturned. "Not a single hair on anyone's head shall be harmed," he replied coolly. He held out a hand, which I took and we shook. As we did, I felt a sense of uneasiness, but I ignored it.

}~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{

Everything from the past sort of melted away as Pitch and I returned to the present. As the environment became more familiar, I realized we weren't in Paris anymore, but outside that hole in the ground. The one I'd rescued Katie from. I felt uneasy about going in, but I followed Pitch down below the surface into the shadowy world.

The vast darkness enveloped me as Pitch and I entered the vast room where the cages still hung from the ceiling. The "globe" Pitch had flickered in a corner. All was quiet.

I noticed Death meditating in the center of the room. As I watched, I saw small white shimmers of fog briefly appear in the air, then vanish just as quickly as they were drawn to her. Her black stick sat in her lap horizontally. Suddenly, Death's eyes snapped open and she turned to look at me. She gave me a crooked smile.

"What were you, uh, doing?" I asked nervously.

"Oh, just collecting my little dead ones," she replied causally. I inched away from her a little bit, staring at her uneasily.

"If you're done now, girls, I'd like to get started," Pitch said. Death stood, stretched, and walked over carrying her staff in her right hand. "Death, do you know Valentine?"

She nodded at me. "We've met. But I thought-"

"That is the past. We are now in the present," Pitch replied, motioning to me. Death nodded and smiled at me. "Now then. Valentine has promised to uphold her half of the deal and help us, and we shall uphold ours, which I will explain to you later, Death." She nodded. "Now down to business…"

**CLIFF HANGER! Haha, I'm cruel, because I am leaving you people in the dark until next chapter! ;P I hope you've enjoyed this chapter; again, huge thank you to Keyboardwizzard, this chapter would have been way lamer than it is now if it weren't for his help. Give him a round of applause, people! *waits for applause to die down***

**Okay, anyways, remember to R&R! You guys don't know how helpful you are to me when you review.**

**Bye!**


	11. Chapter 11: Discovery and Dread

**Chapter 11 Discovery and Dread**

**AN is at the bottom, peeps!**

**Chapter Summary: Jack discovers where Val has wandered off to…**

**(Valentine's POV) [The Next Day …]**

I stretched, yawning, before rising up from the corner of the doorway in which I had been sleeping in. I ran a hand through my ponytail absentmindedly. Groggily, I walked over to the "globe" and just watched it for a while. Several lights twinkled, some had faded, and others were blinking as if unsure whether they believed or not.

"I see you're up," Pitch said, coming up behind me. I turned to him and nodded. "If you wouldn't mind, Death and I would like to keep discussing 'The Plan' with you."

"I don't mind," I replied sleepily.

"The Plan" was the plan Pitch had for when we attacked the Guardians. I tried to stay out of it as much as possible, as I didn't exactly want to attack them, so I was positioned to be on the inside, and learning who was the weakest of the Guardians and attacking them. I hated it, but it was either that, or being bait to lure the Guardians into a trap, which would've been much worse, as I saw it.

**(Jack's POV)**

I flew over town, thinking about Val. I hoped she was okay. I hadn't seen her since yesterday. She could be just avoiding me, but why? What in her memories had made her so upset with me?

I stopped by A Cup of Love. Maybe she's here. I walked around outside. I stopped the owner, Janet, and asked if she'd seen Val. Sadly, no.

Finally, I decided I wouldn't find Val in town, so I decided to head to North's to see if she'd gone there.

Before I could lift off, I felt a tug on the back of my hoodie. I glanced back and noticed Baby Tooth pulling my hoodie. "What, Baby Tooth?" I asked her. She squeaked some, but I couldn't make out what she was saying. She sounded upset. "Baby Tooth, what is it?" Instead of answering me, she just pulled hard on my hoodie. "Alright, alright, I'm coming, I'm coming." I followed her tiny body as it whizzed through the air. She led me towards the woods and I started to get worried. Thankfully, we didn't go near my lake.

Unthankfully, she led me to a dark black hole in the ground at the center of a clearing, which I recognized as the entrance to Pitch's lair.

"Baby Tooth, why'd you bring me here?" I asked, looking at her. She just squeaked some more and pointed down at the hole. Her expression worried me. I looked back down at the hole. The darkness of the hole seemed to swallow the light which tried to penetrate it. Hesitantly, I took a deep breath and jumped down into the hole and let the darkness practically swallow me.

I landed lightly on my feet on the cold ground. The shadows surrounded me. I heard voices talking quietly ahead. Quietly, I followed the sound of the voices to the vast room that had once held Tooth's stolen teeth and fairies.

Pitch, Death, and another figure stood by the globe in a semi-circle. The third figure was a little bit shorter than the other two. I couldn't make out too much about them, though, as the figure was mostly blocked by Pitch and Death, except they appeared to be female.

I moved to hover a bit closer to see if I could get a better look and maybe listen in. As I got closer, I could hear snippets of the conversation.

"…the Guardians…find weakest…Valentine…" I stopped in my tracks, quickly drawing in a breath. Did he just say…? I looked closer.

The third figure that was standing among the group was… Val. I stared at her. She stood between Death and Pitch.

She seemed very… down. Upset. Her face seemed to have lost its usual glow. And her smile was replaced with a depressed, expressionless look. Her eyes were drawn to look at the floor. She seemed to be listening to Pitch and Death, who were talking to her.

My head swam with questions. What was Val doing here? What's wrong with her? Did she…? No, no she couldn't have… Could she? I watched her carefully. Maybe, maybe she was forced into it, or she was tortured into it, or maybe…

A scary thought occurred to me.

_Maybe it was all by free will._

**A cliffy! Again. Second time in a row. O.o The Great and Awesome Keyboardwizzard has once again helped me and my writer's block! He is seriously cool, dudes and dudettes. (Even though he had me laughing at his antics most of the time we were talking… -.- )**

**Don't forget to R&R! You don't know how helpful your reviews are to me. ;P Bye guys!**


	12. Chapter 12: A Drastic Choice

**Chapter 12 A Drastic Choice**

**I'm back! Hello to you all. I hope you have enjoyed this story so far and will continue to leave reviews for me! (They're like little presents… :3 ) Enjoy.**

**Chapter Summary: Val is forced to do something**

**(Jack's POV)**

I stared in disbelief at the scene down below me. My mind swam with questions. Val was… working with Pitch? _Why_?

I quickly realized that if I didn't want to get caught, I'd need to get out, fast, before I was noticed.

As I flew up out of the hole and out into the forest, my thoughts swirled around in my head. I wondered why Val would have joined Pitch. Each thought that came up was bad, but the worst was the "by free will" one. What would've made her want to?

I was afraid of what might happen to Val. I didn't want her to get hurt, especially if I could prevent that from happening to her.

I decided something very, very drastic: I wouldn't say a word about this to the Guardians. At least, not until I figure out what's going on.

**(Valentine's POV)**

"…Do you understand, Valentine?" Pitch asked. I nodded. "Good. I assume you are ready to go…?" I nodded and made my way towards the hole I had entered last night. Death gave me a nod goodbye, and I flew up through the hole.

Sunshine streamed down onto my face, its warmth spreading through my body quickly. The fresh air never felt so good in my lungs. With a deep breath, I filled my lungs with the cool, crisp air and sighed. My wide smile at semi-freedom was short-lived as I remembered what I had to do, and the smile I wore faded slightly. But the view was lovely, so I had to enjoy it no matter how upset I was.

Below me on the ground, snow made the scenery breath-taking. The barren trees upheld their branches, which were laden with a heavy snowfall. Some children happily had a snowball fight. Others skated and made beautiful designs on the ice. The sunlight glinted off the freshly fallen snow.

Wait. Freshly fallen…?

Before I could make a sound or move or even think clearly about what was happening, a freezing cold hand covered my mouth to suppress my shriek. I felt a second hand press some-what gently on my shoulder, and the world blacked out.

**(Jack's POV)**

I looked down at the limp form of Valentine in my arms and winced. I hated that I had to knock her out, but how else was I going to get her to cooperate with me without her breaking down into tears and running away at the mere sight of me?

I sighed, looking at the peaceful look on her face, before I took her to a special place where she and I wouldn't be found- at least, for a while. I hoped.

**Third time in a row, you people must hate me so much! *evil laughter***

**Not only that, but this chapter was really short! Thanks to Keyboardwizzard, he is the reason this chapter is even up! He would not stop pushing me to write it, and I thank him for that.**

**R&R please, you don't know how helpful it is.**


	13. Chapter 13: An Angel

**Chapter 13 An Angel**

**Hello! Chapter 13 is here, finally! Haha, this one I actually wanted to write a lot so I got to work on it as soon as possible…**

**Chapter Summary: Has Jack technically kidnapped Val? Whatever it was, this is what happens between them at this time…**

**(Valentine's POV) [Dreaming…]**

_I was surrounded by the black haze, my chest heaving as I dodged trees, running somewhere._

"_No…" I mumbled, pressing against the blackness harder. I could hear cold laughter from somewhere far off._

"_Feel the fear, Valentine," Pitch's booming voice echoed around me. He laughed cruelly. "Feel the fear!"_

_I stopped and clutched my head as if I was in pain. "No, stop, get OUT!" I screamed in pain. My locket glowed brightly, but when it stopped shinning, I fell to the ground, crying and clutching it, pain wracking my body. I began croaking for help as loud as I could._

**(Jack's POV)**

I glanced at Val, who was cringing in her sleep. Suddenly, she bolted up.

"Hey, sleeping beauty," I said, moving over towards her to sit by her. She scooted away, her eyes wide and fearful. I sighed dejectedly. She looked around, her eyes taking in everything.

**(Valentine's POV)**

"Where am I?" I asked slowly.

"You mean you don't recognize your own cave?" he asked me. I stopped. The cave was covered in ice. The opening had been frozen shut. I noticed the "bed" I had been lying on was really a snow bank.

I blinked. "How-how long have I been out?" I asked shakily.

"I'd say, maybe about an hour or two."

"And why am I here?" I almost squeaked, scratching an itch on my back that was right below my neck.

He grinned at me half-heartedly. "I just want to talk."

"About what?" He looked away from me.

"Why were you with Pitch?"

I tensed. "How did you know?"

"Not only did I see you leave his hole he calls home, but I saw you in there, talking with him and Death."

I looked into my lap. "Jack…"

"Val, what did he do to you?" Jack cut in. "What empty promises did he make? He never means what he says! He wants to manipulate you, don't you see that?!"

I shrunk back some. "He-he said he w-wanted to-to help me… Said I could have my life back…" Jack stopped and stared at me. "He said if I helped him I could go back home, back in time to my family, to my friends… He would send me back, if I helped him…"

Jack's eyes softened. "Val… he was lying. I should know. He tricked me a long time ago…" He took a deep breath. "Val, whatever he said about us, it's not true. We care about you. There is no way to go back to what you used to be… even if there is, you'd still be dead. You can't change the past." I scooted closer to him a tiny bit, and I put my head on his shoulder. He tensed for a moment, but quickly relaxed.

I could feel the slightest beginnings of tears forming. "Jack, thank you, for opening my eyes. And, and I'm sorry…" I wiped my eyes a little.

The itch I had on my back was really starting to hurt now. What the heck was this? I felt uncomfortable and like I was in something too tight for me. I moved my hand away to look at it to make sure I hadn't made myself bleed from scratching the itch. What came away with my fingers shocked me more than blood would ever have.

Snow white feathers, soft and silky feeling to touch fell off my fingers as I pulled them in front of me. I gasped, staring at the small feathers.

"Hang on," I said, getting up and taking off my jacket. I cautiously felt the area where the itch had been. My shirt had rips over the patch of skin. With some concentration, two small, snow-white angel wings slid out of the rips in my shirt.

I blinked, staring at them. Jack stared at me and my new wings.

**How much do you guys hate me? This is sort of a cliffy, which would make it the FOURTH ONE IN A ROW! Haha. I just dropped a bomb on you guys.**

…**What? You thought Val had wings? No, not before. Now she does though. :)**

**R&R, peeps! I don't care what you say, just review. Any random thought you have, write it down!**


	14. Chapter 14: Lights

**Chapter 14 Lights**

**Hi, I'm back, sorry for the wait! The quote later on belongs to Kristalee Berry.**

…**Val has WINGS?!**

**Chapter Summary: Val and Jack are still trying to get over the shock of the wings… and Val and MiM have a little chat.**

_MiM _**and **_thinking_

**Val (talking to MiM)**

Normal

**(Valentine's POV)**

The wings were impressive; small, yet lightweight, white and shimmering with a slight glow. Each feather seemed to be crafted carefully into its very own place.

How did the wings get there? How long have they even been on my back? Did they just grow over night or something? My head hurt from all the questions swirling around inside.

The way Jack was staring at me, I assumed I looked like a freak, what with my wings and all.

"Val?" he asked. "How long have you had _wings_?"

I looked down. "I don't know… I don't remember ever having wings before…"

**(Jack's POV)**

Val looked towards the ground, her wings extended in a way that made her look like an angel. "Val?" I asked, closing my mouth, which was open. "That doesn't matter right now… and you know what?"

"Yes?" she replied, her voice small.

"You look like an angel, you know that, right?" She looked up at me, her eyes questioning. I nodded, a smile playing on my lips.

She blushed and I saw a small smile appear. She retracted her wings again and sat down beside me. She laid her head against my shoulder gently and sighed.

**(Valentine's POV)**

In the back of my mind I was worrying. _Slow down, I don't want to tempt myself to do it if it means I'll become…_I sighed, pushing the thought away. _I just have to focus on keeping my heart neutral, and everything will be alright. Except he'll have a broken heart… and I'll be responsible. It won't matter though, because I'm running away after this, and I won't see him again…_

_Is that really what you want? _A voice asked in my head. **I'm not sure anymore…**_You know he loves you. He really cares about you. He asked you to marry him when you were both alive…_**But we're both dead now. **_Are you? Are you really? _I stopped, thinking about that. _Does your heart not beat? Do you not breathe? Do you not feel things with your heart and in your mind? _I could feel my heart beating quietly in my chest. _You _are _alive. He is, too. _**But things are different, **I argued. _Not by much. You love him, I know you do, even if you won't admit it. _It struck me that I was talking to a voice in my head that wasn't even mine. I had experienced something similar to this before… shortly after my rebirth…**MiM? **I asked. No reply. I looked to the ice doorway. Just barely, I could see the moon in the early morning sky. I forced a smile on my face. _You grew your wings, Valentine. It was once said that 'love is like a gentle breeze that cascades through your entire being, filling every fiber with emotion so deep your heart grows wings.' _I drew in a breath sharply. _You could not have grown your wings without feeling something for someone. _I blushed.

"You okay?" Jack asked, startling me.

"Yeah," I replied shakily. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"You just seemed like…" he trailed off.

"Yes?"

He shook his head. "Nevermind. Um, maybe it's time we got back, unless you just want to sit here a little bit longer…?"

"We can go back if you want," I replied. "But, uh, how are we supposed to explain, _these_?" I gestured to my back, meaning, 'How are we going to explain the wings to them?'

He shrugged. "I don't know… maybe we should just let them find out on their own…?"

I smiled and laughed sheepishly. "Heh heh, yeah, that would be easier…" I unfurled my wings as Jack tried to break open the ice covering the doorway. Once the path was cleared, we set off.

}~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{

Arriving at the Pole, Jack and I landed just outside the doors, I retracted my wings back, and we walked in.

Immediately, we were swarmed by the others, demanding to know what happened to me, where I'd been, all that jazz.

"Guys, guys, I'm fine; you're smothering me!" I said. They pulled away and I managed to catch my breath. I took a good look at each of them and my smile faded. "You guys look awful. What happened?" Tooth was losing feathers left and right. North seemed weaker, like his age was catching up with him. Bunny was shrinking, and was now only slightly shorter than me.

Their faces fell. "See for yourself," Tooth said, her voice full of sorrow, pointing to the globe.

My eyes followed to where she was pointing and my face fell. "Oh no…"

Almost the entire globe was dark. The rest was flickering between belief and non-belief. Slowly, the lights were going out, one-by-one, and they would keep going out until there were none left.

"It's Pitch," Tooth said. "He's trying to tip the balance, and so far he's succeeding."

I shook my head. "How-how could he tip the balance?"

"He's sending more nightmares than Sandy can handle. They're overpowering the dreams he's sending," North said weakly. I looked between them and the globe worriedly. If this got any worse, they'd get even weaker…and then we'd have no chance.

Black sand appeared above the globe and I instinctively formed my bow. The others prepared themselves for a fight as well. The form of Pitch arose on the globe, sneering down at us. I glared at him.

"How nice to see you all together," Pitch laughed. "You look awful. Of course, why wouldn't you? Only eight children who still believe! Eight precious children who believe in the Guardians with all their hearts and-oh." He paused, looking at a flickering light by him. "Make that, seven." He stepped on the light and it went out. My eyes widened in shock. He continued to put out the lights, and I snuck out quietly, getting outside to head to Katie's house to make sure her light did not go out. I could still hear him outside, until I took to the skies.

**(Jack's POV)**

"Six! Five! Four! Three!" Pitch cried happily, stepping on each light with glee. As his foot moved away from each, we could see they had gone dark. He came to the last two that were right next to each other. With one foot, he stepped on both. "None." But as he lifted his foot, we could still see the lights, shinning as bright as ever, not even flickering. "Wha-?" He stepped on the lights again, but they still shone. _Katie and Caroline!_ I thought.

**CLIFFY! Haha, cliffhanger number 5!**

**Until next time, when we'll get to the big fight! It's hard to believe this story is almost complete…**

**R&R to let me know your thoughts on this chapter, how you feel about this story coming to a close, and also to give me ideas if you want! Bye!**


	15. Chapter 15: Good Vs Evil Pt I

**Chapter 15 Good Vs. Evil Pt I**

**And we're back to your regularly scheduled program!**

**Haha, okay so we're at the big fight, but we're not done yet! I got the books the movie is based off of and they are SO GOOD! If you haven't read them, try to in the near future!**

**Oh, also check out my new poll on my profile just for all of you readers!**

**Chapter Summary: The big fight!**

**(Valentine's POV)**

I raced to her house and looked in through the second floor window, which was cracked open a little bit. Katie was sitting upright on her bed, Caroline sitting on the edge of the bed. They were talking.

"Still can't sleep?" Caroline asked. Katie shook her head. Caroline half-smiled at her younger cousin.

"I'm worried about Val, and Jack, and all of them," Katie sighed.

Caroline pulled her cousin into a hug. She ran a hand through Katie's hair. "I know, sweetheart, I know. I'm worried too…" They sat there like that for a moment.

I smiled lightly. It was just a sweet moment. "Hi." I turned to see Jack. My smile wavered slightly.

I looked back at Katie and Caroline. "They are the last lights," I concluded sadly. He sighed, nodding. I looked back them, before pushing open the window some.

Katie jumped and Caroline stiffened at the opening of the window, but both relaxed when they saw it was merely us. We climbed in and Katie jumped out of bed and ran to me, giving me a hug. She took me by surprise, but I wrapped my arms around her in a hug myself. Jack nodded at Caroline, who nodded back, smirking at us.

Katie pulled away from me. "What happened?" she asked me, looking me in the eye.

I was taken back. "What?" I asked.

"Something's happened, I know it has; now tell me what!" Katie cried, stamping her foot indignantly.

I looked to Jack, mouthing, _help me_. He shrugged, as if to say _you're on your own here._

Suddenly, we heard a crash from outside. All four of us went to the window. Crashed on the street, North's sleigh lay in partial ruin. North, Tooth, and Bunny stumbled out. They looked worse than they did when we last saw them. Jack and I flew out and down to the street. I looked at the house, and saw Katie and Caroline were running out the front door to the street.

"Where's Sandy?" I asked.

"Sandy, he…" Tooth trailed off. She didn't need to say anymore. Jack closed his eyes and hung his head.

The night grew darker quickly. I frowned slightly.

"How sweet." All of us turned to see Pitch on a cloud of Nightmare sand and Death on her dragon, which growled at us. "The Guardians have come together to try and 'protect' the last lights," Pitch said, his words filled with malice. "I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see you like this. You look… awful."

I stood my ground, glaring at him; one of my arms wrapped protectively around Katie's shoulders, the other holding my bow protectively in front of Caroline, who stood beside me, standing strong, but I could tell she was trembling at the sight of the Nightmare King.

I looked to Jack, who nodded at me. This was going to be a long night.

We both looked back up at where Pitch and Death were.

"Get them away from here," I told the others.

"What are you going to do?" Tooth asked. I looked around at each of them.

"I have no idea," I said, then lifted up into the air, my wings unfurled behind me. I heard audible gasps as I did, but I ignored them and focused as I flew straight at the smirking face of Pitch. My friends got away as I formed my bow and three arrows set themselves in place. I pulled back the string, and fired all three of them right at him.

With a wave of his hand, a shield of black sand protected him from my arrows, blocking the arrows right before they would have made impact. "Those pathetic arrows won't work against me!" With a second wave of his hand, the sand came hurtling at me, quickly followed by a large fireball.

I backed up in mid-air and caught my bearings, and in that split-second, the sand crashed into me and I was hurtled downward by gravity. My wings felt like they had been burned, as the fireball had almost grazed them just as the sand hit, and pulled in quickly on their own. My hair whipped around my face in the wind. With a sickening crash, I landed on my back on a dumpster, and then I fell off that onto the ground.

"Val!" I heard Katie and Caroline cry. Groaning, I weakly tried to get up. I felt like I'd probably broken something… Katie was at my side, helping me up with Caroline and Jack.

"Good try, Val," Bunny said, trying to pat my shoulder with his tiny paw. He was now the size of a common rabbit, which wasn't as funny as it looked or sounded. But it was as cute.

"I think," I coughed, "I think Heat is back." Jack's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing in reply. The shadows around the alley stretched and grew thicker. I could practically see the Fearlings reaching out their curled fingers towards us, hoping to snag something, possibly the Bent kids. Katie and Caroline inched away from the mob of Fearlings and closer to me and the others.

"So much fuss over two little girls," Pitch's voice rose from the shadows. "And still they refuse to stop believing."

"Of course, there are other ways to snuff out lights," Death's voice seemed to echo around us.

I heard a loud laugh that blew a hot wind right at us. Jack shivered and looked at me. "Well then, how about we test some of them out, Death?"

"Do you remember Heat, Frost?" Death asked, still in the shadows. "Seems a little strange that you thought you could _drown_ him when he has Death on his side." Jack clenched his fists. All of us remained on guard, ready for an attack.

Pitch rode out of the shadows on a Night-Mare. "You both believe so much," he said. "Do you believe," His expression darkened, "in the Boogeyman?"

"I may," Katie said fearlessly, "but I'm not afraid of you."

Pitch glared frighteningly. "You should be." And then the Fearlings attacked.

I shot some arrows at Fearlings that were trying to grab at Katie and Caroline, turning the Fearlings to harmless red dust. Jack froze Fearlings faster than they could reform when broken apart.

"Katie, Caroline, we need to gather your friends," I said, turning to look at them. Both nodded to me.

"Allow me to help," Jack said, and lifted her up in the air. I got Caroline, unfurled my wings and we took to the skies.

**(Jack's POV)**

Katie pointed out the houses and I flew over to them. I gave her snowballs to throw at the window to catch the attention of her friends.

"Katie?! How are you doing that?" one of her friends, a nine-year-old named Tomas, asked, opening his bedroom window, looking her up and down incredulously. He had ebony black hair and sea blue eyes.

Katie pointed up at me as I held the back of her shirt. "Jack Frost!" she cried. "C'mon, Tomas, we need your help!"

I began to fly off with her and glanced back. The boy was staring at us, and then hurried to get dressed to come out. Next, we got the twins, Annie and Anna. They actually each put on a coat and hat each and climbed out the window. I caught them before they could fall and set them down. They giggled and ran below us as we continued gathering the kids.

Soon, we had a small crowd below us. Val and I flew next to each other and set Katie and Caroline down at the front, leading the kids ahead of us. The other Guardians were following us with renewed energy from all the belief surging from the kids. I looked next to me at Val and gave her a wide smile as we flew.

**GAH! I'm stuck. ~.~**

**Hope you liked this chapter, and please remember to check out the poll on my page!**

**To those of you who have ideas for this story, please, please, please PM me about them!**

**Review? Favorite? Follow? PM me? Vote on the poll? Do nothing?**


	16. Chapter 16: Good Vs Evil Pt II

**Chapter 16 Good Vs. Evil Pt II**

**I'm… evil… oh, lord, what did I DO?!**

**Chapter Summary: WARNING!: Hints of character death, angst, and heart-wrenching pain.**

**(Valentine's POV)**

Jack and I stopped short as we came across Pitch again. He glared down at us from a cloud of black sand, Death flying near him on her dragon, and Heat floating nearby, grinning like a madman. You could practically see the crazy look in his eyes.

I glared back up at them. Pitch raised his arms and a tidal wave of Nightmare sand rose up behind him. Fearlings were interwoven within the wave.

I heard Caroline catch her breath sharply and Katie whimpered a little. I looked at them both. "Don't worry," I said. "They're just bad dreams. And I promise that they won't hurt you. Not with me around." They smiled nervously.

"We'll protect you," Bunny said to reassure them, but I didn't think it was too reassuring.

"You'll protect them?" Pitch laughed. "Who will protect you?"

Katie walked forward, standing in front. "I will." What? I thought.

"I will," Caroline said, walking over next to her cousin and putting her hand on Katie's shoulder.

"I will," Tomas said and got next to Katie.

"I will," Caroline's boyfriend Sammy said, moving to stand on her other side.

"I will, I will," Annie and Anna said, though which of them said it first or last it was hard to tell. They pushed through and stood beside Tomas. All the kids joined in; Jack and I looked around at all of them, and I felt my heart swell with pride.

"Still think there's no such thing as the Bogeyman?" Pitch asked menacingly. The Fearlings roared and howled, coming right at us.

"I do believe in you," Katie said, shaking her head. "But I'm really not afraid of you." Spiraling down, the Fearlings were about to crash into us. Katie thrust her hand out.

The Nightmares instantly became golden dreamsand at her touch.

She laughed out loud and the others began to cheer loudly and happily. Tooth gasped and lifted up into the air. "Yeah, go Tooth Fairy!" I heard someone from the crowd cheer. I smiled at that. North's strength returned ten-fold and he raised his swords in triumph.

Fearlings tried again to surround us, changing some of the newly turned dreams back to Night-Mares. Some of the kids huddled closer together. A Night-Mare charged at some of them.

My dust began swirling about as well, touching other Fearlings and turning them to red dust. Some swirled over the children and Sammy pulled Caroline close and kissed her. A chorus of "Awww"'s and "Eww!"'s rose up as this happened with more than just that couple. My smile grew wider, before I notched an arrow in my bow.

Pitch was looking down furiously at us. He seemed to mutter something to Death and Heat, who both nodded. Heat commanded the South Wind to blow over us. Jack shivered again, more violently this time though. I could see pain in his eyes. I frowned angrily, looking up at Heat, who seemed to be trying to taunt us. My arrow notched and my bow armed, I aimed the bow at his smug little face, making it seem like I was aiming past him, and I let go of the drawn bowstring. The arrow whistled through the air towards. Before it could hit its mark of the middle of his forehead, Death snatched it out of the air, and I growled. She crushed it in her hands and I got even madder. I kicked off the ground and took to the sky.

I heard someone cry my name, but I ignored it, rage blocking all other thoughts. Death was the reason I was here. I died because I had lost my will to live. She'd had me for about a week in her grasp, and then MiM had saved me from her and made me a spirit. She'd kidnapped Katie. I was ready to kill her, let _her_ see what it was like being dead.

I was flying right after her and her dragon. She urged it to the woods, and I followed. I don't know how far away I flew, but she landed in a clearing close to Jack's lake. I landed and saw no sign of her. I walked around cautiously. "Come out here, Death!" I snarled.

Her laughter rang out. "Why, Val, what a surprise that a _turncoat_ would come running to me!" I growled. I rounded another bend and came face-to-face with a black sand dagger that pierced my chest and sunk into me. I gasped in pain, clutching my chest. Death smiled at me sweetly, a murderous look in her eyes. "Especially when I give the best revenge. Enjoy the Fearlings' corruption, sweetie."

And then she was gone. I collapsed on the ground in pain. Oh, why? Why was I so stupid to follow Death? I cursed myself inwardly. I'd fallen for that so fast. They'd _wanted_ it to happen. Shakily, I picked myself up. The pain was still indefinite, but I refused to let it take over. My wings unfurled behind me, and I used them to balance myself. I walked, running into trees when I became winded to lean against them. I clutched my chest the entire time, refusing to give in to the darkness trying to consume me. As I came to Jack's lake, I finally collapsed. I began crying out for help. I was weak, and my vision was clouded. But I still refused to give in.

}~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{

**(Jack's POV)**

Heat was tough, but I hung on. He was throwing fireballs at me and I was dodging some, and freezing the ones that could've hit someone else.

Suddenly, Death came flying back up and muttered something to Pitch, and he smiled cruelly.

I became worried. Where was Val?

**Ominous ending…**

**WAAAAAAAAHHHHH! CLIFF-HANGER! WHY?!**

**What exactly did Death do? What does Pitch have planned? Will Jack find Val in time? Or did Val just die?**

**H2O: NOOOOOOOOO! HANG ON, VAL!**

**Val: *sweatdrop* H2O, I'm right here.**

**H2O: I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT RIGHT NOW ARE YOU OKAY IN THE STORY?!**

**Val: *sigh* Okay, well, you wrote this. You decide.**

**H2O: I'm not sure where to go with this exactly… GAH!**

**Jack: *walks up and points at me* Is she okay?**

**Val: I'm not sure anymore…**

**Me: *rolling on the floor, crying***

**Val: Review? Favorite? Follow? Do nothing but fan-girl/boy? Whatever you want.**


	17. Chapter 17: Sacrifice

**Chapter 17 Sacrifice**

**Thank you for all the reviews I received. *victory dance***

**Disclaimer: I do not own ROTG or Jack Flame. Jack Flame belongs to invatercat. I only own my OCs.**

**Chapter Summary: A visit from some of Jack's family and two other spirits, death experiences, and the greatest sacrifices ever made.**

**WARNING!: Lots of character death, angst, fear, and heart-wrenching pain.**

**(Third POV)**

Death grinned at Pitch as she flew up. "It's done," she hissed. Pitch smiled at this. His newest pupil was quite talented. He'd hate for her to be killed, as all the fun he'd been having would be over. She was also cunning, stealthy, and had powers beyond even his reasoning. The Fearlings began to get restless around them. "Why not toy with her further? I've heard Fearlings can do perfect imitations."

A Fearling crept up to Pitch, its evil smile wide. In his ear it whispered to let it taunt them. _I will break the Frost boy. He is afraid for her. He's become weak from worry._

Pitch looked at the Fearling and nodded, a malicious smile on his face. _Go,_ he said to it in its language.

Its smile grew wider as it flew down below. It hid itself among the trees, and prepared for the delicious tormenting of the winter spirit.

**(Jack's POV)**

Heat threw a massive fireball at me. I couldn't dodge. There was no way I could freeze that. I was about to be melt or burnt to a crisp.

As it neared, someone else pushed me aside and took the hit. It shook the ground and sent up a dust cloud. I was shocked. Who…?

"Hello, Uncle," said a voice. The dust cleared and I smiled. Standing where I had once been was my nephew, Jack Flame.

"Flame!" I cried. He grinned.

"Thought I'd drop by for a visit. Guess I came just in time." He shrugged. He looked up at Heat. "No one can melt my uncle except me!" He raised his fire staff and the wind picked him up as well as me. We shot up into the air towards Heat. We stopped in front of Heat in battle positions.

Heat frowned at my nephew. "Who are you? No wait, never mind; that doesn't even matter. But hey, you've got guts to stand up to a fire spirit like me!"

"Yeah, well, you've got guts getting a winter spirit and a fire spirit angry!" Flame retorted. Too late, Heat realized just what he meant. Flame concentrated and created a fireball of his own and then, much to the surprise of Heat, threw it at the same time I threw some icicles. They mixed and became water, which slammed into Heat, dousing him. He growled, the water evaporating off his skin. I grinned.

_Jack…_

I stopped, caught off-guard. _That voice; I know that voice,_ I thought.

_Jack… where are you?_

Whose voice was it? Certainly not my sister's. Wait, that was…Val's voice… Flame looked at me with a concerned expression. "You okay?"

_Jack…!_ She kept calling me.

I looked at Flame. "Can you hold him off? I've got a bad feeling about one of my friends. She should be here, but hasn't come back," I asked. Flame saw the pleading look in my eyes and nodded.

I dodged into the forest and followed the voice. The wind picked me up in an attempt to speed me along. The cries stopped as I neared the clearing of my lake. I held my staff in front of me protectively, in case this was an elaborate trap Pitch had concocted. There was no sound in the night aside from some quiet, labored breathing. Then I saw who that sound was coming from. I immediately knelt beside her. "Val?" I croaked, clearly seeing it, but not believing it.

Something was very, very wrong. She slumped against a tree trunk. She clutched her locket in her right hand. I could see a crack filled with black sand in the ruby. Her violet eyes were half-closed, but opened slightly when I spoke. Her face was filled with pain, making her look frail. "Jack…" she rasped, her voice barely above a whisper. Even her voice was pained.

"Sh, it'll be okay," I said, trying to comfort her as best I could. Her eyes had the beginnings of tears in them. "Don't worry; everything, everything will be okay."

"Why, hello, Jack." I gritted my teeth, standing and turning to face him, my staff held out to protect her and me, my face contorted in rage. Right now, he was the last person I wanted to see.

"What did you do to her?!" I demanded angrily.

Pitch chuckled. "Did you really think I would miss out on taking the most powerful person in this fight? After all, she betrayed me." I glared. "Poor, poor girl," he said with false mournfulness. "Becoming nothing more than a shadow of herself. And her prince in shining armor can't save her." I glared at Pitch; what he was saying made almost no sense. "Unless… unless he were willing to pay the price."

I hated the smile he wore. "What kind of price?" I asked warily.

If it was possible, his smile grew even wider. "Why, to heal her, another must take her place."

That hit me hard. I could save her, but I would be consumed by darkness. I was about to respond to Pitch and say that I'd rather be melted alive, but I looked back at the pained, fearful expression on Val's face. I knelt beside her, worried for her. "Jack, no…don't do this, please…" she whispered, tears glistening in her eyes. "I-I can fight it…"

She winced as I put a hand on her shoulder. "You can't fight it forever," I replied, forcing myself to keep my voice calm. "And I'm not going to stand by and watch you hurt yourself like this. I'm not going to let you become a Fearling. I'm sorry." I stood and, taking a shakey breath, I turned to face Pitch. "Heal her. I'll-I'll take her place."

He smiled cruelly, before mocking a bow. "As you wish." With an upwards flick of his wrist, black sand shot up out of Val's locket.

She gasped, before looking at me, horror splashed across her face and fear in her eyes. "Jack, what have you done?"

Pitch rose, and shot the sand that had been tormenting Val into me, causing me to yell in pain, clutching my chest in pain. I looked at Val one last time to see her frightened face. I took in everything about her: that little red curl right next to her left eye, the different shades of purple that made up her beautiful eye color, the little brown freckles dotting her nose and cheeks, the expression she wore; though it was one of fear and shock, it could've been the last face I would see her make. I mouthed to her, "I love you," before the world went completely pitch black.

**(Valentine's POV)**

"No!" I screamed as the now unconscious Jack fell to the ground with a thud. My mind went blank of all thoughts aside from Jack. Before I could rush to his side, though, he woke up. Slowly, he pushed himself up into a standing position.

But this wasn't the same Jack I knew.

My Jack was a fun-loving prankster I'd grown to love again. His light blue eyes had looked at things with mischief, wonder, hope, and fun. His smile had been a toothy, crooked grin always on the brink of a laugh. He had quickly become my best friend in both the past and when I'd been dragged into this mess.

This Jack was a stranger to me. His gaze was icy cold. His dark navy blue eyes glared daggers of ice at everything they looked at. His smile was ruined; replaced by a jagged scowl that was full of malice. He stood with his staff held in a defensive way pointed at me.

Pitch's face was full of amused evil. "Kill her," he uttered. Jack flew at me faster than my eyes could register, a black sand dagger held to my throat. The same dagger Pitch had given me to attack the Guardians with before I'd changed my mind. My eyes widened as he started to put it closer to my neck.

"Jack!" I cried. "Jack, stop! It's me! Valentine!" His eyes flickered; a moment of reconition. Hope filled me, but the fear still there. "Jack, come back to me!" I looked down at my necklace. His eyes followed mine and saw the snowflake heart. "Jack! You have to remember me!" My voice shook as I saw his eyes widen. Tears filled my eyes as I stared into his, which were still dark. The hand with the knife wavered. His eyes flickered between light and happy, and dark and icy. "Jack..." I said, staring at him, before my lips pressed onto his firmly, my eyelids shut tight as tears fell down.

**(Jack's POV)**

I stared at the girl's tearstained face as she pressed her lips to mine.

I felt torn in half. She was a stranger to me, but I also knew her. I hated her, but I also loved her. I wanted to kill her, but I wanted to protect her too.

I felt something odd stir in me, making me drop the knife I held into the snow. My master screamed something at me, but I ignored him. The girl's body was edged in a pink glow. She and I rose into the air about a foot. Glowing pink dust shimmered and sparkled as it floated around us in streams.

Suddenly, she glowed blindingly. I closed my eyes a bit to sheild them. Then, I felt something rip out of me, and I felt strangely… happy…

**(Valentine's POV)**

My eyes opened as I pulled away from Jack. I didn't even realize we were air born until I felt my feet touch the ground. I felt a hand push a bit of my hair out of my face. I looked up at him quickly and felt a rush of air escape me.

He was smiling mischiviously; a crazy, adorable, smile that was _his_. His eyes were their normal blue, too.

Tears of happiness welled up in my eyes. Jack's smile faded, a look of concern replacing it. "What?" he asked softly. I smiled, my eyes blurry with tears and shook my head, wipping the tears away.

"Kill her, you brat!" Pitch yelled. Jack and I faced him, Jack glaring.

"It's over, Pitch," Jack spat.

The color in Pitch's face drained. "How? How could you fight it; I'm the only one who could have cured you!" he screamed. He glared at me. "You did this, you insufferable girl!" He collected himself before continuing. His cold glare bore into me. "No matter. You've already killed yourself. I'll just finish the job." He flew at us and my eyes widened.

Jack flew sideways, pulling me with him quickly, holding onto me. Pitch flew after us. Jack tried to split from me, but I refused to let go of him, knowing that if I let go, I'd fall. Jack slung icicles at him, as I watched with dread as my hair began to darken. Pitch dodged the ice and conjuered up many Fearlings, which flew at us.

Jack and I were separated by the onslaught. I watched sadly as we were each surrounded by Fearlings. They didn't quite attack me yet, but I knew once I was completely mortal, I was a gonner. I still had my bow, which I used until the arrows stopped forming. Then, I fought back with my bow, until it crumbled to dust.

Jack tried to fly back to me to help me, but several Fearlings attacked him and kept him away from me. I lost sight of him in the sand.

**(Jack's POV)**

When my eyes looked to where Val was fighting, my stomach lurched. "No..." She was standing in the center of a large group, defenceless. But, but she wasn't... she wasn't exactly Val.

Her hair was pure black. Her eyes were looking around as if she were lost and alone. She held herself as if she was afraid and unsure of herself.

I flew towards her, freezing Fearlings as I went, anger driving me forward.

I saw a dark cloud rise up from behind her. Pitch stood upon it. I tried to pick up speed. Pitch made a movement as if he were drawing a bowstring. The next second, something thin and black hurtled toward Val.

"No!" I yelled, picking up speed. I heard a peirceing scream come from where Val had stood. The circle of Fearlings closed around her, and then broke apart as I broke through, freezing everything I could.

After every Fearling either been frozen or had run off, I turned my attention to Val. I sat and held her in my arms, looking over her worriedly. Her beautiful violet eyes were now shut as if she were asleep. Her locket's ruby was clear like a diamond, a large crack running down the middle. Her wings were nowhere in sight. I felt a tear well up and fall gently down my cheek. With a splash, it landed on her cheek. She did not stir.

"No… it can't be true…" I whispered, stroking her now black hair soothingly. "Val, you can't, you can't be dead…" She remained motionless; her face expressionless.

A cold laugh rose up from the trees. I sprang to my feet, glaring around, looking for Pitch. "How delightful," Pitch laughed, still out of sight.

"Come out you coward!" I screamed angrily.

Pitch still remained hidden from view. "Precious girl," he said, remaining in the shadows. "Such a sad way to go. She killed herself by saving you, you know." He laughed cruelly. "She turned herself _mortal_." He said it as if it was a disgusting disease. "All she stood for was love. Bah! It was her ultimate downfall! She was always afraid of finding true love… she knew it would be what destroyed her. And it's all thanks to her, and you." He laughed coldly. I growled slightly, and slung ice in every direction. Apparently, I missed him, because Pitch just laughed. "Goodbye, Jack." I felt him leaving, but I didn't move to kneel by Val until I felt sure he was gone.

A twig snapped somewhere around me and I looked up quickly. "Easy, lad, I'm not going to 'urt you," said a feminine voice with a slight accent. A girl walked out with her hands held in front of her protectively. She wore a short navy blue dress that ended at her knees, silver blue boots, black leggings, a shimmering light blue sweater-jacket, a gold belt, and a white shield which hung from the belt. She had eyes as blue as her jacket and long, curly flaming orange hair. Floating beside her was a tiny living blue flame. She sighed and walked over. She knelt beside Val and touched her forehead. "Poor lassie," she muttered. "You deserve a second chance… if you 'adn't already used it, I would…" She trailed off.

"Who are you?" I asked.

She smiled at me sadly. "I'm Willa Wisp, Spirit o' Fate. An' you be Jack Frost, no?" I nodded. She looked back down at Val, then quickly upwards. I followed her gaze to see the moon. "You want me to wot?" she mumbled. She seemed to listen for a moment. She looked down at Val, then up at the moon. She put her fist over her heart and bowed her head. "As 'ou wish. But, I'll need Grim's help." She turned to look at the woods to our left.

Melting out of the shadows, a boy came forth. He had messy ebony black hair, bone white skin, a skinny figure, dark brown eyes, and a single black scar that ran down his face starting at the edge of his right eye and ending at the corner of his mouth. He wore black jeans, a plain black t-shirt, a brown aviator jacket, and a black sword that hung from his belt. Willa smiled at him, and he smiled back. "Willa, so nice to see you again."

"Aye, an' you, Grim," she replied. "Tsar Lunanoff has informed you of our task?"

He nodded as he walked over. "Indeed he has." He nodded to me. "Grim. Grim Reaper."

"Jack Frost," I replied.

He sat beside me and concentrated. Then he frowned. "That's weird."

"Wot?" Willa asked, concerned.

"Well, her spirit, it's not…" He trailed off, frowning. "Oh, she didn't," he then growled, his eyes angry.

"What is he talking about?" I mumbled to Willa. She shrugged, her face as confused as I was.

Grim stood up and whistled loudly. Yelling that sounded like Death started up. Her dragon came roaring into the clearing. We could hear her yelling at it. "No! Stop! Go back! Urgh!" she groaned. The dragon crashed into the snow then clambered over to us right up to Grim, nuzzling him.

"Hey, big fella," Grim said, chuckling a bit, rubbing the dragon behind the ears.

"_YOU!_" Death bellowed, rising out of the snow angrily. She stomped up to him angrily and got in his face and began calling him some choice words I will never repeat. Strangely enough, Grim just stood there and took it calmly, as if this happened on a regular basis.

When she stopped to take a breath, he interrupted her. "I know you did it."

She paused. "Did what?" she snarled.

"You broke the rule," he replied calmly.

She sneered. "What are you talking about?"

Grim pointed back at Val. "'A spirit's soul is to wander until the end or unless needed.' Wasn't it you who agreed to abide to that rule?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Don't smart-mouth me, teacher. I know it quite well enough," she growled. She mumbled the next part to him quietly, so we couldn't hear. I saw Grim's eyes widen as she spoke, then narrow in confusion.

"Why would Tsar Lunanoff want us to bring _that_ back?" he asked, sounding disgusted.

Death shrugged. "A test, probably, to see if you can think indepently. I wouldn't risk it," she replied indifferently.

"Grim, wot is it?" Willa asked.

"Oh, just that Manny's testing you. He really doesn't want this spirit brought back. You see, she is a traitor to Tsar Lunanoff."

"She's lying," I growled. "She's the traitor."

"Stay out of this, Frostbite," Death chuckled. "This isn't your fight."

"You made it my fight when you called Val a traitor when you're working with Pitch!" I retorted in a yell. Willa gasped, a hand covering her mouth as she looked at Death in horror. One of her floating blue flames flared brightly in anger.

Grim glared at Death. He grabbed her by her shirt collar, looking her in the eye. "_We_ are better than that. Spirits of Death are supposed to do their job, not go after their own desires."

Death grinned at him, her sharp, shark-like teeth showing. "Well, _Grim_, that's for me to worry about. I've been promised more than what Tsar Lunanoff could give me!" He shook his head in disgust. He reached to touch her forehead and she drew back sharply. "No! You won't!"

"Death, please," Grim begged soothingly. "You are tired. You are not thinking right. You need to be relieved."

She backed away. "NO! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME, GRIM!"

He managed to grab her by the wrist. He looked her fiercely in the eyes. She tugged at her wrist furiously. He once again reached a hand to her forehead and lightly touched it. He closed his eyes. Neither Willa nor I made a sound as Grim began speaking clearly and loudly in another language: "_Μπορείτε, περιπλάνηση πνεύμα, έχουν πλέον απαλλαγεί από τα καθήκοντά σας. Έχετε απομακρυνθεί από την πορεία του και μόλις είχε πέσει από το βαθμό σας. Τα μάτια σας έχουν οι ίδιοι που γεμίζουν με εγωιστική απληστία και την καρδιά σας με το σκοτάδι. Πήγαινε τώρα, κόρη μου, και το υπόλοιπο σε ειρήνη, και μπορεί να Τσάρος Lunanoff παρακολουθήσουν πάνω σου για το υπόλοιπο των ημερών σας._"

Death's body went rigid as he spoke, her eyes wide. He kissed her forehead lightly and then stepped away from her, letting go of her. Slowly, Death closed her eyes. In a calm, soothing, feminine voice that wasn't hers, Death spoke: "Γενναία έναν. Εσύ είσαι πρόθυμος να αναλάβει αυτό το βάρος μόνη της?"

"Είμαι," Grim responded in the same language.

"Εσύ είσαι πρόθυμος να αναλάβει τον εαυτό σου άλλο μαθητευόμενος?"

"Είμαι."

"Για την καλύτερη καθοδήγηση από αυτήν που έχασε?"

"Είμαι."

"Για την ανατροφή και φροντίδα μέχρι την ημέρα της ανάπαυσης δική σας?"

"Είμαι."

"Στη συνέχεια, αφήστε αυτό να γίνει με τα ονόματα των Lunanoff και του Θανάτου."

Grim bowed to her and Death began dissolving into a pure, silky white, shadowy mist. The mist spread out and came floating up to Grim. He gathered it all in his hands. It chattered a bit in the language of ghosts to him. He kissed it and blew it away. It scattered far away in every direction. He put a fist over his heart and bowed his head. Willa stood and put a hand on his shoulder. With his other hand, he took hers.

Wisps of white smoke began appearing around Grim. One, much whiter and even brighter than the others, knelt in front of him and I realized they were shades, ghosts. A chattering came from the kneeling spirit. Grim nodded and reached for its 'hand'. It took his hand and stood, and Grim, Willa, and the spirit came over. "It might be best," Grim said to me, "if you stood aside. This is a delicate task and I wouldn't want either the spirit or the one who wishes for her return to be hurt or lost."

I nodded. I looked at the spirit and, for a brief second, I swore I could see Val, smiling at me. I nodded slowly, standing up and moving away from Valentine's body.

Grim faced Val's ghost. "_Tu spiritus purus sunt transitu transitus vitae et viam mortis. Tu es parata ad iter tu ad suscipit?_" he asked in what I suspected was Latin.

Val's ghost responded, "_Utique._"

"_Vitam intrare in regnum filiae amore et fortunae vobis._" The shade that was Val knelt by her body. She turned to a vapory mist, like what Death had become. She collected into Grim's cupped hands. He and Willa knelt by Val's body, Grim still holding Val's vapor in his hands. Willa tilted Val's head up, and Grim poured the vapor into Val's mouth. They both stood up and each took a step back. I started to step forward towards her, but Grim stopped me. "No," he told me in a warning tone. "This is the most delicate part of the process. We have to watch to see if the body accepts the spirit."

"And if it doesn't?" I asked out loud. He didn't respond, only giving me a sad look. We watched her body for any signs of movement. _Please be okay, Val,_ I thought.

**EIGHT. FREAKING. PAGES. 3,806 words! (Not counting ANs)**

**OH MY GOSH THIS IS SOOOOOO LONG! THE LONGEST CHAPTER FOR THE CLIMAX! WHOO! (Ugh… I need to lie down now…)**

**Yes, there are different languages in here. Go to a webtranslator to find what they say, and I would translate each word alone or it will come out weird. (Trust me. :/ )**

**Well, anyways. I killed off Death! Death was Grim's student. She had gone off to become a solo spirit several centuries ago. She had grown to love/hate her mentor (AKA, Grim) and all his rules so she ran off. That explains some of the sad tension between them when he has to let her go… I'm going to go cry in a corner for one of the bad guys now. *cries***

**Review? Favorite? Follow? Vote on the poll on my page about this story?(Please do this, I really want to know if you people want me to make a sequel!) Do absolutely nothing?**


	18. Chapter 18: A Hall of Mirrors

**Chapter 18 A Hall of Mirrors**

**Oh my gosh, the reviews…**

**Chapter Summary: Val begins her first task, Flame and Heat battle it out, and the return of a friend…**

**WARNING!: Spoilers for the **_**Guardians of Childhood**_** series ahead.**

**(Jack's POV)**

I paced, glancing at Val's lifeless body. "What's taking so long?"

"It takes a while for a spirit to return," Grim replied. "It has to perform tasks to be allowed back into the world of the living."

"Three tasks," Willa said. She pointed to her head. "One of the mind," she pointed to her throat, "one of the voice," she pointed to her heart, "an' one of the heart."

"The test of the mind tests what you remember from your life. It will try to trick you if you aren't smart. The test of the voice tests how well you remember others, normally those close to you. And the test of your heart, well, most don't make it there. Even I don't know what it is."

I looked at Val worriedly. This was going to take awhile.

**(Third POV)**

Leaving this scene, we return to the battle.

Flame threw his staff out forcefully, a large fireball slamming into Heat. Heat growled angrily at him after getting back up. Heat created another massive fireball and threw it at Flame, who dodged and grinned back. "Ready to give up, old man?"

Heat scowled. "Never."

Flame shrugged. "Your choice."

The kids below, led by Katie, attacked the Fearlings around them. The twins touched several which all turned to dreamsand; Caroline blocked one from grabbing a small three-year-old boy named Will and karate-chopped it, splitting in half and changing it to dreamsand, which formed into the shape of a large bird; Tomas touched one which turned into an enormous dreamsand dinosaur, much to the cheering of younger kids; and Katie led them all towards where the sand seemed to be leading, which was to a large swirling vortex of dreamsand. They fought against the Fearlings outside this and fed it dreamsand, making it glow brighter and brighter.

Katie got close to the vortex, feeling drawn to it. A voice seemed to whisper in her ear, _True magic comes from belief._ It was not a Fearling, but a voice she felt she should know; an old man's voice. Another voice, younger and femmine, whispered to her, _Ombric's first lesson._ Her eyes widened, becoming tinted with green. She knew these voices, and knew what they were talking about. "I believe! I believe! I believe!" she said aloud enthusiascally. "I believe in the Sandman!"

The others caught on quickly and joined in on her chant. "I believe in the Sandman! I believe in the Sandman! I believe in the Sandman!"

Caroline, Sammy, and little Will chanted happily; the twins shouted it in unison; Tomas cried it out with Katie as loud as he could; even Flame found himself chanting it under his breath with them. As they chanted, the dreamsand swirled faster and glowed brighter. Then, from the vortex, emerged Sandy, to the joy of all. (Except Pitch and Heat, of course.)

**(Valentine's POV)**

I blinked open my eyes, trying to get used to the bright glare of light. Once my eyes adjusted, I saw myself in a white room filled with mirrors. I looked in a mirror at myself to see I had changed from the white ghostly robes into skinny jeans, a white silk shirt, and black boots. A quiver of black arrows was strapped to my back, a black bow slung over one shoulder. I looked around at all the mirrors.

A mirror me to my left smiled wickedly at me. It's smile was slightly unsettling. "Are you ready to begin?"

"Yes," I responded bravely.

"What is invisible yet seen, felt yet intangible, fearful yet brave, and the devil yet an angel?what owed life before. and . once done.1" said a mirror me to my right.

_Okay,_ I thought. _What can be seen that isn't solid and invisible? And is fearful? What does that even mean? That it's afraid or that it brings fear?_

I looked at a mirror nearby and saw an image from my past. It was Jack and I as little kids, playing hide-and-seek by the lake. _Children._ Could that be it? Children can be afraid of so many things, but be brave and stand up for themselves too. They can be bad like devils, and also be as sweet as angels. They can leave a big impact, but do almost nothing. And like hide-and-seek; sometimes they're there and sometimes they're not.

I was about to answer, when another image in another mirror to my far left caught my eye. I watched it for a moment, curious. The image depicted Pitch, and a woman with long black hair in a green dress. He looked at her with slight fear. She was looking at him with forgiving kindness. I couldn't hear anything, but I could read her lips: _Daddy._

Daddy? I remembered a story I'd been told about Pitch presumably having a daughter, and that was part of the reason he became evil, but I'd just passed it off as just that: a story.

_Children are just about the most beloved things, being the reason humanity goes on and why many things in history happen,_ I thought. Then I realized: it's not the completely the children, but the love that pushes them towards a brighter future.

"The answer is Love!" I cried, out of breath, though why, I wasn't sure.

The mirror me in front of me smiled disarmingly. "Very good. You may continue." Her mirror swung open before me. Behind it, I saw a golden hallway. "Remember this warning for the journey to come: Things are not always what they seem to be. Trust your heart, not your mind."

"Thank you. And I will," I breathed. I ran out to the valley as fast as I could. _Trust my heart, not my mind?_ I thought to myself. _What does that even mean?_

…**Okay, I probably should explain what happened with Katie.**

**I had this weird idea that she was the reincarnation of Sascha, one of the kids in the GoC series. Since I had no description of her appearance, I assumed she had dark, dark brown hair, cocoa colored skin, and teal green eyes. Just a random little thing as an idea. What happens here is that Sascha sort of "wakes up" and sees the danger of the Fearlings and tries her hardest to remember what she had learned about magic in her past life(as a reincarnation, she wasn't supposed to remember anything) to help her current self.**

**Anyways, I need ideas for the other two tasks Val has to perform.**

**Remember:**

**Task 2 needs to have her recognize how well she remembers others.**

**Task 3 will need to be something random. I'm thinking it should be how pure her heart is or something.**

**Leave a review if you have an idea on what I could do. BTW, no idea is a bad idea unless it's unspoken.**

**Favorite? Follow? Review? Vote on poll?**


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